The Return of the Betrayed Guardian
by Knight of Kanto
Summary: Years ago Ash was Betrayed by those he trusted. Now with a tournament about to start Ash returns under the name of Takeo Hayashi to make his former friends pay and to prove that he is one of the greatest Pokémon trainers of all time. However old enemies lurk in the shadows waiting for their opportunity to get revenge. Will Ash prevail or will he fail? ON PERMANENT HIATUS.
1. The Betrayed One Returns

Here is the first chapter I hope you enjoy.

If any of the readers of the original version of this story have questions about future events please PM them to me. If you leave them in reviews, you could spoil the story for new readers.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

A man is standing at the peak of Mount Quena gazing off into the distance. A Meowth was sitting on his shoulder sat and a Lucario stood to his right. The man is about twenty one years old, stood a little over six foot and had a lean build. His main features were his messy raven black hair and his chocolate brown eyes, which seemed to have a hint of blue.

Behind him, a group Pokémon were battling each other. The Pokémon were a Blastoise, a Feraligatr a Charizard, an Infernape, a Meganium, a Donphan, a Heliolisk, a Primeape, a Butterfree, an Aurorus, a Luxray, an Absol, a Glaceon, a Gardevoir, a Milotic, a Flygon, a Tyranitar, a Scizor, Porygon Z, a Sceptile and a Rotom.

The sounds of their attacks clashing echoed through the mountains and the man could feel the very ground shaking as the destructive attacks created massive shockwaves through the mountains. Most people would be worried by this however the man knew that his Pokémon had excellent control of their attacks so there was no chance of them causing any damage to the surrounding area.

As the man stared off into the distance the Meowth perched on his shoulder noticed the faraway look in his friend's eyes and was worried about the man. He had gone through a lot during his life and Meowth knew that his friend tended to dwell on one particular day that had happen just over seven years ago.

"Hey boss are ya thinking about dat day again?" Meowth asked in concern.

The man looked at the cat with a blank expression on his face; he nodded sadly and then turned his gaze back to the beautiful view in front of him.

"Yes unfortunately. I remember it as if it was yesterday." he said in an emotionless voice

* * *

Flashback (7 years ago)

Ash was walking home alone after his defeat to Tobias in the Sinnoh league. Although he was disappointed to lose again he took pride in the fact that not only had he taken down two legendary Pokémon which was something that nobody else had done, he had also gotten further than ever before by getting to the semi-finals and finishing fourth. Ash was a little disappointed that he had been placed fourth since he was sure that had he gone against either of the other semi-finalists he would have won his semi-final match and finished up second rather than fourth.

Pallet Town finally came into view and Ash couldn't stop a massive grin plastering itself in his face. As much as he loved travelling and meeting new Pokémon, he always missed home. He started to pick up the pace as he headed towards home until he broke into a run, he dodged passed the inhabitants of Pallet Town yelling out apologies to anyone he accidentally collided with. By the time he got to his house he was out of breath, he took a few moments to regain his breath and he knocked on the door. The door opened moments later revealing his mother who had a huge smile on her face.

"Hi mum it's great to see you." Ash said happily.

His mother lunged forward and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, Ash returned the hug but he could feel the air being gradually squeezed out of his lungs.

"Mum I can't breathe." Ash croaked.

Delia reluctantly released her hold on Ash, which allowed the young trainer to breathe again. She turned her attention to Pikachu and scratched behind the mouse's ears.

"Sorry Ash I'm just so happy to see you back home again."

"I'm happy to be back. How about I tell you everything that has happened over the past year."

"I would love to hear what has happened. But Professor Oak wants to see you at his lab."

"Why?" Ash asked in confusion.

"Sorry honey but I don't know, Professor Oak just told me that it was important."

"Ok I'll be back as soon as I am done at the lab."

Ash shot out of the door with Pikachu barely keeping a grasp on the young trainers shoulder and he ran straight to Professor Oak's lab. He walked through the open door and looked in the main room. In the room sat almost all of his past travelling companions as well as Professor Oak. Ash looked at the serious looks on his friend's faces and wondered what was wrong.

"Hey guys what's up?" He asked as he sat in one of the vacant seats.

"Ash we need to talk to you about something very important. So be quiet and listen." Brock replied in a cold tone

Ash looked at Brock in complete and utter shock; he had never heard Brock use such a harsh and cold tone.

"Okay Brock. So what do you wanna talk about?"

Everyone looked at each other unsure how to say what they were thinking. As time passed and the silence continued Ash was starting to get increasingly worried about what was going on. He was about to ask again when Misty suddenly stood up and stormed over to him.

"M-Misty what's wrong?" Ash asked nervously.

"Ash you suck at training Pokémon. We have been talking about this for a while now and we all think you should give up your stupid dream because it is never going to happen! You're a complete failure and I feel embarrassed to even know you." Misty snarled.

"She's right it's embarrassing to even be associated with you." Tracey added.

"Yeah Ashy-boy you are worthless. We don't want anything to do with a loser like you." Gary proclaimed

Ash was in shock as he was bombarded by insults from his friends, he was sure that this was just some kind of joke. The people he had grown to love would never say things like that, would they?

"Y-y-you're joking right?"

"No Ash we are not, we all agreed on this, we think you're a weak and pathetic excuse of a trainer." Max then spoke up.

Ash looked around at the faces of his so-called friends and saw them all nod their heads in agreement. At that moment, his heart felt like it had been smashed into a million pieces, he grasped the fabric of his shirt as he felt the pain of betrayal stab at his shattered heart. The feeling only got worse when Pikachu jumped off his shoulder, sat next to Max and then glared at him.

"Pikachu please don't tell me that you agree with them."

'I fully agree with them. You keep screwing up, in Johto you somehow managed to make Charizard lose against a Blaziken. In Hoenn you refused to use your more experienced and instead used only your Hoenn Pokémon and me, we could have won that damn tournament if you used your older Pokémon! Finally we have the battle with Tobias, you chose to bring Torkoal and Gible ahead of Charizard and Snorlax when you knew that we would be up against legendary Pokémon I mean what the hell were you thinking? Oh that's right you weren't just like you never do.' Pikachu yelled.

Ash wasn't very sure what Pikachu was saying but he could understand enough of his friend speech and body language to know that he was angry over their performances in tournaments. Tears began to form in Ash's eyes as he comprehended the reality of the situation, the friends he'd made during his travels thought he was an embarrassment and that he should give up on his dream, his best friend had given up on him and he clearly didn't want to be his Pokémon anymore. It was all too much for Ash and after taking one more glance at his former friends whose glares had intensified, he stormed out the door, heading towards the corral with tears now trickling down his cheeks. He knew that his Pokémon would stand by him even if his so-called friends wouldn't.

When he entered the corral, Ash immediately came face to face with his Pokémon who were all stood in front of him. Most of them were glaring angrily at him; the only exceptions were Charizard, Bayleaf, Infernape, Sceptile, Totodile and Donphan. Ash could tell what was going on and felt what little remained of his heart be ground into dust, even his Pokémon had turned on him.

A sob escaped Ash and he fell to his knees however, Charizard quickly picked him up and held his broken trainer close to him. Ash looked gratefully at the dragon and the other five Pokémon who had decided to stand by his side. All six Pokémon handed their Pokéballs to Ash who placed them on his belt.

"Thank you guys." Ash whispered.

Ash's former friends then walked outside with incredibly smug looks on their faces while the rest of Ash's Pokémon now either maintained their glares or began growling.

"See Ashy-boy even the majority of your Pokémon think you're pathetic." mocked Gary

Ash ignored him and returned Bayleaf, Infernape, Totodile, Sceptile and Donphan. He then jumped onto Charizard's and pulled Pikachu's Pokéball off his belt, he threw the Pokéball on the ground with all of his strength, which made the capture device shatter into a thousand pieces.

"Charizard take me to Vermillion City please."

Charizard roared and shot a Flamethrower into the air, which caused all of the people and Pokémon to back away in fear. Just as Charizard took off Ash took one last look at those who had betrayed him and glared at them.

"One day I'll be back and when that day comes you will be sorry for what you've done" and then Ash was gone.

End Flashback

* * *

"I was a fool." Ash said.

"You know dat's not true boss."

"Yes it is I let my emotions control me that day and I foolishly believed that their reasons for doing that was because they thought I was a crap trainer. I should have known that there was a much more significant reason for their betrayal."

"There was no way you could have known dat Giovanni would go to such extreme measures to try to break you and remove you as a threat. You know what dey all got from him in return for doing dat. I just can't believe dat dey would turn on you for such shallow things."

"This world is a dark, dark place Meowth. We both know that now after everything we've been through."

"Yeah. It's just a shame dat we had no proof to show the cops how involved they were in Team Rockets operations."

"One day they will get their comeuppance Meowth."

Suddenly a piercing screech rang out throughout the mountains. Ash, Meowth and Lucario all looked in the direction it came from and saw a Pidgeot flying towards them with a determined look in its eyes. Lucario instantly formed an Aura Sphere in his palm just in case the Pidgeot proved to be a threat to his master even though he knew his master was more than capable of defending himself. The Flying type was unfazed by the Lucario who had started to growl aggressively and landed in front of the Ash. It ignored Lucario and used its wing to point at the scrap of paper attached to its leg. Ash took the piece of paper and began reading it in his head. The Pidgeot then took off, as its job was complete, Lucario watched the flying type until it disappeared from view and then he dissolved the Aura Sphere. His gaze turned to his master who appeared to be in deep thought.

_'Master what does the letter say?'_

"Lucario how many times have I told you not to call me Master?"

_'Over nine thousand.'_

Ash chuckled at Lucario's reference; he then cleared his throat and began reading the message.

Dear Takeo Hayashi,

There is a tournament coming up that we hold every ten years called the Championship of Legends. This tournament is held to decide the best trainer in the world and will be acknowledged as such until the next tournament comes. I know of you exploits over the past few years and I believe you are more than capable of winning this tournament. I have attached your invitation to this letter, if you want to join the tournament hand the invitation to the Nurse Joy at the Indigo Plateau Pokémon centre. You have one week to decide whether you will show your power off to the world.

Scott.

P.S. I am glad you are still alive Ash. I am sure that you know this but you were incredibly hard to track down. I hope to see you in the near future.

_'So Master are you doing to attend this tournament?'_ Lucario asked.

Ash placed the letter in his pocket and looked at Lucario with a determined glint in his eyes; the jackal saw a glint in his master's eye and knew that he was finally ready to display his power to the world. Ash heard his Pokémon approaching him; he looked at them with a genuine smile on his face and saw that they were doing the same. Meowth and Lucario joined the rest of the Pokémon and watched Ash waiting for his answer.

"Yes my friends we will join this tournament and we will win. Everyone we have trained long and hard over the past seven years. This tournament is the perfect opportunity for us to prove ourselves to the world and humiliate those traitors. We will leave immediately and we will crush all who stand in our way."

They all roared in approval and some of them fired attacks into the air. Ash then rummaged through his backpack pulling out his Pokéballs and returned everyone except Charizard and Meowth. He let Meowth climb back on to his shoulder and he then jumped onto Charizard's back.

"Ok Charizard head straight to the Indigo Plateau."

Charizard roared so loudly that it echoed through the mountain, he then fired a Flamethrower into the air and with one powerful beat of his wings he shot into the air. After doing a quick lap around Mt Quena, he flew into the distance at an insane speed.

* * *

A couple of hours later the Indigo Plateau came into sight, while they flew over the forests surrounding the Indigo Plateau Ash started to look around for an area for them to camp in during the tournament. Ash spotted a suitable clearing after a few minutes; it was slightly south of the Pokémon Centre and was deep in the woods so he shouldn't have to worry about being disturbed, it also appeared to have a lake, which would be great for resting after training.

"Alright Charizard land in that clearing."

The dragon nodded and landed in the middle of the clearing, Ash got off Charizard and looked around the clearing. He was surprised to see that it wasn't actually a lake as he had first thought; it was actually a natural spring, which was even better than he had hoped. After another quick look around the surrounding area he was satisfied that this would be an excellent training and resting area for his team between matches. He considered sending everyone out to hold down the fort while he registered for the tournament but he wanted to make sure that everyone was fully fit and ready for the tournament. He was certain that they were perfectly healthy due to the incredible healing power of the lake in Mt Quena but Ash wanted to be on the safe side.

Ash thanked Charizard and then returned the dragon; he placed Charizard's Pokéball in his bag with all the others and began walking towards the Pokémon centre. He quickly raised his hood and made sure that it was completely shrouding his face only because he really didn't feel like revealing that he was back yet. He wanted to stay under the radar for as long as possible.

As buildings came into sight, Ash looked to Meowth who was sitting on his shoulder admiring the scenery.

"Meowth remember you can't talk in public. It could make people suspicious of us especially if the traitors hear you."

"Don't worry boss I know. Besides we can talk through Aura if we need to."

Ash nodded and the duo continued on to the Pokémon centre. They came to the building a few minutes later; Ash walked inside and immediately scanned the room looking for anyone he knew. The first person he spotted was one of the only people in the world who apparently knew the real identity of Takeo Hayashi. He was a rather large man he had met several years ago when he challenged the Battle Frontier. Ash wasn't surprised to see that he was still wearing his customary sunglasses and Hawaiian shirt.

Scott turned around when he heard the doors open and was pleased to see a man who wore a hooded cloak and carried a Meowth on his shoulder. He knew that he must be the man that many people have spent several years looking for. Scott quickly excused himself from the conversation he was having with Brandon and walked up to Ash.

"Hello Takeo. It has been far too long. I am glad you decided to compete in the tournament. I was worried that you might reject my invitation."

"Well I couldn't turn down an opportunity on this grand occasion to prove how powerful I've become. Anyway I'd better go sign up for the tournament."

Scott placed a hand on Ash's spare shoulder stopping the cloaked trainer, Ash looked at Scott with a bemused expression.

"Okay Takeo but I'd better come with you if you wanna keep you identity secret."

Ash nodded and walked with Scott to the main desk. Before Nurse Joy could speak, Scott cut her off.

"Hello Nurse Joy this man would like to register for the tournament. You won't need to see his Pokédex details. His name is Takeo Hayashi."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief, he hadn't known that he would have to hand in his Pokédex to register for the tournament he just thought that the invitation would be enough. While Scott spoke with Nurse Joy Ash looked around the room and saw that several people in the Pokémon centre wore stunned expressions while staring at him. They were amazed that Scott would do this for someone that nobody had heard of.

Ash turned his gaze away from the stunned crowd, which meant that he didn't see that the Frontier Brains were wearing similar expressions. They were all wondering just who this guy is and how Scott knew him. Determined to find out they walked towards the mysterious man and Scott who were watching Nurse Joy entering his details into a registration form. Nurse Joy tapped a few more keys on her keyboard and looked at Ash.

"Okay Mr Hayashi you are now registered. Here is your schedule for the first round."

"Thanks Nurse Joy." Ash said as he took the schedule from Nurse Joy.

"It's my pleasure. Is there anything else that I can do for you?" Nurse Joy replied.

"Actually could you take a quick look at my Pokémon and make sure they are healthy."

"Of course."

Ash placed his schedule in his pocket and opened his bag; he took all of the Pokéballs out and handed them to Nurse Joy who placed them on a tray. Ash looked at Meowth to see if the cat wanted to be examined as well, Meowth saw the look and replied by shaking his head. Nurse Joy saw the action and understood that Meowth didn't want to be checked so she walked through the door to the healing rooms. Ash then looked at Scott gratefully.

"Thank you for doing that Scott. The last thing I wanted was for my identity to be revealed right now." Ash murmured to Scott.

"Don't worry about it. After everything you've done for the world and everything you've been through I think you're owed the odd favour."

This earned a short chuckle from Ash.

"So Scott, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" Greta said.

Ash and Scott turned around and saw six Frontier Brains staring at the two of them with a 'you will tell us what we want to know or else' look on their faces.

"Of course, everyone this is Takeo Hayashi. He is very good friend of mine who's been travelling around all the regions for the last few years helping the Pokémon Rangers."

Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped once hearing this, they all knew that the Rangers were a very well respected organisation responsible for protecting Pokémon from poachers, cruel trainers or even other Pokémon. Scott ignored the stunned looks on his Brains faces and carried on with the introductions.

"And Takeo these are my Frontier Brains. We have Factory Head Noland, Arena Tycoon Greta, Dome Ace Tucker, Pike Queen Lucy, Palace Maven Spenser and Pyramid King Brandon."

Ash looked at the people he had fought so hard to defeat so many years ago; he was surprised to see that they hadn't really changed over the past few years. He suddenly realised that Anabel was missing. The thought of Anabel brought back memories of the time they had spent together after he had defeated Brandon. He had spent a couple of months with her before leaving for Sinnoh. The last time they had spoken had been just before he got on the boat to Sinnoh. He remembered that day vividly, he had almost confessed that he had fallen for her but his fear of rejection had stopped him. He snapped out of his reverie and looked at Scott.

"Wait a minute Scott I thought there were seven Frontier Brains. Where is Anabel the Salon Maiden?"

At the mention of her name, all of the Frontier Brains and Scott's shoulders slumped and their eyes were filled with sorrow. The change in attitude worried Ash, they had been so upbeat a moment ago and just the mention of Anabel's name had made them act as if someone had died.

"Hey did I say something wrong?"

Everyone looked at each other wondering what to say to this trainer, after a few moments of silence Brandon cleared his throat and looked straight into Ash's eyes.

"She's in her hotel room; she wanted to be alone today."

This confused Ash; Anabel had always been a very active person who had loved spending time with others.

"Is that her normal behaviour?" Ash asked.

"It never used to be however since Ash Ketchum's disappearance seven years ago she fell into a deep depression and no one has been able to pull her out of it."

Ash felt a wave of guilt wash over him, the thought of him being the cause of her pain saddened him.

"I don't suppose you've seen him have you Takeo?" Greta asked hopefully.

Ash looked at Scott feeling incredibly torn; he wasn't sure what to say. On the one hand, he didn't want to reveal his identity but on the other hand, he didn't want to lie to them. Ash gathered his thoughts and came up with an answer; he looked at Greta and felt guilty as he saw the hope in her eyes.

"Y-yes, I met him a couple of years ago while I was training on Mount Coronet. We had an incredibly good battle that I only just managed to win. I'm sorry but I haven't heard from him since that day. I wish that I could give you something more useful."

Ash immediately averted his gaze as he saw the downtrodden look on Greta's face. He hated lying to people especially to those he had a great deal of respect for but he had to, at least for now.

"That's okay Takeo at least we know that someone has seen him alive. Well I guess we should get back to our hotel rooms now, it's getting late." Brandon said, the other Brains agreed and some yawned to prove his point.

"You guys go ahead; Takeo needs to wait for his Pokémon to be checked and I've got to show Takeo to his hotel."

"Okay Scott see you later." Brandon replied.

Ash and Scott watched the Brains leave the Pokémon Centre; Nurse Joy then appeared and placed the tray of Pokéballs in front of Ash who quickly opened his bag and carefully placed the Pokéballs back in his bag.

"They were all in perfect condition Mr Hayashi. I wish more trainers would take such excellent care of their Pokémon."

"Thank you Nurse Joy."

Nurse Joy smiled at Ash who returned the look and then he turned his attention to Scott. Ash was about to ask Scott about Anabel but was cut off by the large man.

"Come on we can talk on the way to your hotel."

Ash nodded and followed Scott out of the Pokémon Centre, Scott then started to lead Ash in the opposite direction to Brandon and the others.

"Scott, can you please tell me everything that's happened with Anabel since I left. I really am worried about her."

"Okay Takeo, but you have to tell me everything that happened four years ago with Team Rocket first. Because I know you had something to do with it and I certainly don't believe the bullshit the media came out with."

"Deal."

* * *

Flashback (4 years ago)

After spending over a year, scouring all six of the major regions for any Intel, he could find on Team Rocket's hideout and the leader Giovanni Ash finally compiled enough Intel to mount an attack on Team Rocket and eliminate the criminal organisation. Ash stood outside the headquarters watching the grunts patrolling the building, after witnessing the guards doing a few rounds of the perimeter he noticed that one of the guards would be out of sight when he got to an alcove in the building. Ash quietly moved into position and waited for the grunt to get close, when he was at the alcove Ash stepped out and knocked out the grunt. He took the uniform off the man and put it on, he then loosely tied a rope around Meowth arms behind his back and tightly held on to the rope.

"Now Meowth do you remember the plan?" Ash whispered.

"Yeah boss. You say dat you captured me and want to take me to Giovanni so he can punish me for turning against him. "

"Ok let's do this."

Ash walked up to the main gate with Meowth trailing behind.

"Halt! Who are you and what is your business?" the guard said in what he hoped was an intimidating voice.

"I have captured that treacherous Meowth who tried to betray Team Rocket. I wish to take him to Giovanni so he can dispose of him."

The grunt seemed unconvinced so Ash leaned close to the grunt and glared at him.

"I think Giovanni would be displeased if you refused to allow me entrance and nobody wants to make Giovanni angry do they?"

The guard nodded and then heard something through his earpiece.

"Yeah, yeah you're right. Just go down the main corridor and take the elevator to the top floor."

Ash nodded and walked inside dragging Meowth with him. The gate closed behind them and the duo were left on their own in the strangely quiet base.

"Man these guys are stupid, I can't believe they just let us through." Ash said.

"You have no idea how dumb some of these guys are. Giovanni doesn't really care about how intelligent they are, in fact, he prefers dumber ones since they are easier to manipulate. Smarter people have a much greater chance of questioning his orders after all.

Ash nodded and removed the binds on Meowth's arms; they both spotted a camera turning their way and quickly moved into the shadows. The duo then started quietly make their way through the base, making sure to stay out of every camera's line of sight. While they moved between rooms, Ash began placing several explosives at structural weak points of the building. Ash placed the last explosive he had on the support beam of the building and then looked at Meowth.

"Hopefully this should be more than enough to take this building down. Now let's go take down Giovanni and remove the threat of Team Rocket."

Meowth nodded and the followed Ash down the main corridor towards the elevator, they walked into the elevator and then pressed the button that would take them all the way to the top. When the doors opened, a huge room that only had a desk with a computer on it was revealed to Ash and Meowth. The chair behind the desk suddenly swivelled around revealing a man sitting while he stroked the Persian that was sat by his side.

"Hello Ketchum, I've been expecting you for about an hour now. That is after all when I allowed you to waltz into this building with the treacherous cat. I hope you both know that you only got into this building because I wanted to crush you myself." Giovanni then began cackling.

"Giovanni! I will defeat you this day and Team Rocket will disband. I swear that you will never harm another innocent again."

"Nice speech boy, now let's finish this."

Giovanni threw five Pokéballs into the air, revealing a Rhyperior, Magnezone, Nidoking, Arcanine and a Machamp, his Persian then jumped down beside them and prepared for battle. Ash took a glance over Giovanni's Pokémon and was disappointed to see that the only who had been properly trained was his Persian.

"It's over for you Giovanni, your Pokémon stand no chance against mine. Come out my friends, may the Aura be with you."

Ash like Giovanni threw five Pokéballs into the air releasing Charizard, Lucario, Absol, Blastoise and Gardevoir, Meowth then stood in front of Persian ready to prove who the better cat was.

"Rhyperior use Rock Wrecker on that overgrown lizard. Magnezone use Zap Cannon on Gardevoir. Nidoking use Mega Punch on Blastoise. Arcanine use Flamethrower on Absol. Machamp use Close Combat on Lucario and Persian you deal with the traitor."

"Charizard intercept Rhyperior with Flare Blitz then hit it with a Blast Burn. Gardevoir use Psychic to send the Zap Cannon back and then charge two Focus Blasts to obliterate that Magnezone. Blastoise use Iron Defence then use Ice Aqua Jet. Absol charge through the flames and keep using Night Slash until it is down. Lucario use Elemental Combat to counter Machamp and Meowth you've got Persian."

Charizard surrounded himself in intense blue flames and charged towards the rampaging Rhyperior. When they clashed the dragon was gradually pushing Rhyperior back, Charizard then smirked and opened his mouth shooting a full power Blast Burn point blank at the rock Pokémon. Rhyperior was engulfed in intense flames and he collapsed on the spot with his body covered in burns.

A golden orb that had sparks of electricity shooting off it formed in front of Magnezone and it shot the orb at Gardevoir who watched the ball of electricity hurtling towards her and just raised her arm stopping the ball inches in front of her. The orb was surrounded by a blue glow and then Gardevoir fired it back at Magnezone, the increased speed gained by Gardevoir's psychic abilities gave Magnezone no time to the dodge the orb and it slammed into Magnezone. The steel type let out a robotic cry and it crashed to the ground, the paralysis making it unable to move. Gardevoir formed two blue orbs in her hands and then lobbed them at the defenceless Pokémon. The orbs collided with Magnezone, which took it out of the fight.

Nidoking's fist glowed white and he let out a battle cry as he charged towards Blastoise. The water type responded by standing still as his shell took a metallic sheen which hardened his shell considerably. When he was within arm's reach of Blastoise Nidoking threw his fist forward and it collided with the tortoise's shell, moments later Nidoking staggered away from Blastoise and roared in pain, which he clutched on to his hand, which felt as if it had been broken by Blastoise's shell. A veil of water then surrounded Blastoise, which was immediately frozen by his ice-encased fists. Blastoise then shot into the air and slammed into Nidoking, which propelled the ground type across the room, and he slammed into the wall, slumping to the ground unconscious.

Arcanine summoned all of the firepower he could muster and shot a Flamethrower at Absol who just ran straight through it seemingly unhindered. Arcanine was stunned as he watched the dark type easily cut through his attack, as Absol got closer Arcanine stopped firing his attack as he realised that he was wasting energy. Moments later Absol appeared in front of him and could he do nothing as he was bombarded with slashes, he tried raising his paws in defence but the attacks were too quick and too powerful for him to block so he was very quickly knocked out with several gashes littering his body.

Lucario's right fist cracked with electricity and flames engulfed his left fist, he then charged at Machamp who was already running at him and began his relentless assault. This forced Machamp to go on the defence from the start, as he knew that the Lucario had him completely outmatched in both power and skill. Machamp finally tried throwing a punch at the jackals head but he missed as Lucario easily ducked under the attempted punch. Machamp was then hit by an incredible uppercut that launched him into the air; pain rushed through Machamp's head and he hoped that his punishment was over. He knew that he was in for more pain when he saw Lucario leap above him, Machamp grunted in pain as he was sent to the ground by an Aura infused kick. The combination of the uppercut, the kick and slamming into the ground knocked out the fighting type meaning that Persian was the last Pokémon standing for Giovanni.

The five victors and Ash turned their attention to Meowth and Persian who were exchanging attacks; both cats aimed a series of slashes at each other however, they were either blocked or dodged. Persian's tail suddenly turned metallic and he aimed it at Meowth who leapt backward which made Persian's tail slam into the ground and be embedded in the floor. Meowth saw this as his chance and formed an orb of water that crackled with electricity and fired it at Persian. The Thunder Pulse slammed into Persian whose tail was still stuck in the ground but due to his Limber ability he wasn't paralysed by the attack however, he was disoriented by it. Meowth used Persian dazed state to his advantage and created a massive gash down the left side of Persian that caused the larger cat to cry out in agony.

As the battle raged on and Persian was starting to get weaker and weaker. This made Giovanni growl in anger as he watched his strongest Pokémon being beaten by the pathetic traitor. Giovanni glanced at his other Pokémon that had Ketchum's Pokémon beat so easily and felt his rage building, another cry of pain made Giovanni turn his gaze back to Persian who was now struggling to stand and his body was covered in cuts and bruises. He looked at Meowth who didn't appear to be in much better shape as he was staggering around with several cuts littering his body too. This gave Giovanni hope that he could at least finish off Meowth.

"Persian destroy the traitor with Giga Impact!"

"Meowth show him a true Giga Impact."

Both Meowth and Persian were surrounded in an orange aura and then they charged at each other, the cat's collided moments later, which created a huge explosion that temporarily blinded everyone. When everyone's sight returned, they looked at where Meowth and Persian had clashed and saw that Persian was in a heap on the ground while Meowth was staggering in front of him with a massive a grin plastered across his face.

As he looked at his unconscious Pokémon Giovanni was speechless, he hadn't lost a battle since he was a foolish little kid so to be beaten so easily was incomprehensible to him. In a flash Ash appeared in front of the leader of Team Rocket, before Giovanni could do a thing Ash landed a punch to his stomach and an elbow to his neck. Giovanni slumped to the ground due to the blows however to Ash's surprise the leader of Team Rocket started laughing.

"Well done boy you've beaten me but in the end I'm the true winner here."

"What the hell are you talking about? You are going behind bars and in all likelihood; you will never get out of prison. How are you the winner?"

"You're still as much of a fool as you were as a kid aren't you? I can't believe that you're still so clueless."

Ash grabbed Giovanni by his shirt and slammed him against his desk drawing a pained cry from Giovanni.

"Stop beating around the bush and tell me what the fuck you're on about?"

"I bet you still think that your so called friends betrayed you because they thought you were a bad trainer don't you?"

Ash looked at Giovanni with a look half way between anger and confusion. This only made Giovanni laugh even more hysterically.

"The look on your face tells me everything I need to know. The truth is that I approached them after your pathetic loss in the Sinnoh League. I offered them anything they wanted in exchange for telling you that you are a shit trainer and to my shock, they accepted my offer. I knew that their "betrayal" would break you and you would either give up or go into self-imposed exile like you did."

"Why? Why would you do that to me you bastard?!"

"It's simple. You kept getting in my way so I wanted to get rid of you which I managed to do for a long time."

"What did you give them? What was so important that they'd turn on me?"

"Some of them wanted money and some of them got a little helping hand in matches. What surprised me was that they agreed to become members of Team Rocket just to get a bigger share of the wealth."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Just to see the look on your face as you realise how easy it was for a crime boss to not only turn you so called friends on you but also make them members of my organisation."

Ash's Aura flared and his radiating power created shockwaves that made his Pokémon stagger back. Giovanni looked into the eyes of Ash and realised that he may have made a mistake in telling him this. Ash watched as fear filled Giovanni's eyes and then he punched Giovanni in the face as hard as he could, a satisfied feeling rushed through him as he felt Giovanni's nose shatter. The blow knocked the boss of Team Rocket out and Ash dropped him on to the floor like the trash he is. Lucario stepped forward and placed a paw on Ash's shoulder.

'_Master are you alright?'_

"Yes, yes I am my friend. He just opened some old wounds but don't worry those wounds have already been resealed. Those people have been dead to me for a long time."

Ash placed his hand on Lucario's shoulder and after a few moments Ash released the grip and then went over to Giovanni's computer, he hacked into the files on the computer and downloaded all the data on it. He then returned all of his and Giovanni's Pokémon slung the unconscious Giovanni over his shoulder and then got into the elevator travelling to the bottom floor. He carefully walked out of the building being sure to avoid any grunts and once he was a safe distance away from the building Ash turned around and faced the building. He then pressed the button on the detonator in his hand and he watched as the Team Rocket base collapsed. The noise caused by the explosions was deafening but Ash just stood there unfazed, smirking at his handiwork. He took the unconscious Giovanni to the nearest Police Station and left him and the data he had downloaded slumped in the ground outside. By the time Officer Jenny noticed the unconscious Giovanni outside Ash was miles away.

The next day it was all over the news that the police had led a strike force against the Team Rocket Base capturing their leader, and scattering their forces. Giovanni was found guilty of several crimes to both humans and Pokémon thanks to the downloaded data and he was later imprisoned in a high security jail.

End Flashback

* * *

Ash decided to leave out the part about how he found an old friend trapped in what appeared to be a torture chamber or how that friend now resided in one of the Pokéballs that was hanging from the necklace he wore. By the time Ash had finished the story they had reached his hotel.

"Well thanks for telling the truth about that Takeo. But I do have one question how did you knock out his Pokémon so easily?"

"It's simple really. He never trained his Pokémon properly; the only Pokémon he had trained was his beloved Persian. The other five Pokémon were chosen for their powerful and intimidating appearance. Now Scott I trust that you will keep this between us, I don't want this getting out to the media."

"Of course what you've told me will stay between us Takeo."

"Thanks, now I told you about Team Rocket so I want to know about Anabel."

"I think we should talk about Anabel after your match tomorrow. I don't want anything to distract you." Ash nodded then realised what Scott had said.

"What do you mean 'my match tomorrow'?"

"The opening ceremony and the first round of the tournament are tomorrow."

"Wait the letter you sent me said I had a week. I wanted to get some last minutes training done."

"Well I wrote that message a little while ago and I kinda forgot to send it on time. Sorry about that." Scott said while looking quite embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it Scott. I'm just glad I decided to come here straight away."

"So am I. Well I've gotta get to my hotel. I will see you tomorrow; meet me at the Pokémon centre after your match. Then we'll talk okay?"

"Okay Scott see ya."

As soon as Scott was out of earshot, Meowth decided to break the silence

"Ha dat look on his face when he told you that we were fighting tomorrow was priceless."

The pair then burst out laughing at the situation, when they calmed down Ash walked inside the hotel. He went to the desk and got his room key from the receptionist, then he went upstairs and he eventually found his room after what felt like an eternity of searching. He opened the door and marvelled at the huge room he had been given, the first thing he saw was massive bed; he then spotted a TV and a laptop. He dumped his backpack on the floor and then jumped onto the bed with Meowth curled up beside him and fell into a deep sleep.

As Ash slept peacefully, a lilac haired woman was lying down on her bed in a hotel not even a mile away. The woman was sobbing uncontrollably into a pillow with a picture of the person she loves clutched to her chest and an Espeon lying next to her trying to offer some comfort. Between sobs, she managed a single sentence.

"Ash where are you?"

* * *

The next day Ash woke up at dawn as usual, he yawned and stretched his limbs out. He then went to his backpack and pulled out the spare set of clothes and the towel he kept in there and went into the bathroom. He came out ten minutes later, fully dressed and ready to go. He walked over to his bed and nudged the sleeping cat eventually waking him up.

"Hey can't a cat get some sleep around here?" Meowth stood up and wiped the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's morning, and the tournament begins today. So we need to tell the other's about the change of plans."

"Ok let's go then." Meowth climbed up Ash's arm and took his usual place on his shoulder.

Ash then noticed a note on the floor, which someone must have placed underneath his door during the night. Ash picked up the note and began reading it.

Dear Takeo,

I thought I should inform you that those from your past are here, several of whom are competing in the tournament. I know that you want to get revenge on them for saying that you were a terrible trainer and I hope that you get the chance to crush them. I thought that you would be interested to know that Max is now using your old Pikachu; I do not know how many of your other old Pokémon are owned by him or the others. If I find out, I will tell you.

Good luck

Scott

"Well it looks like we're gonna get our chance at vengeance. Charizard will be pleased."

Ash dropped the note in the rubbish bin and put on his cloak, he raised the hood of his cloak, which shrouded his face in darkness. He picked up his backpack and exited the hotel without seeing anyone, due to how early it was. He began walking towards the secluded area he had found yesterday and arrived there a few minutes later. Ash opened his bag and grabbed the Pokéballs out of his bag.

"Everyone come on out."

All of his Pokémon burst out of their Pokéballs and appeared in front of him.

"Listen everyone, due to a minor mistake on Scott's part the tournament actually begins today not in a week's time. Also I have been informed that the traitors are here and some of them are competing."

The Pokémon looked at each other with smirks on their faces; they were already looking forward to getting a chance to destroy the scum.

"_Master do you know who we are battling today?" _Lucario asked.

"Lucario I wish you'd stop calling me master, you know by now that we are family and that makes us equals. And to answer your question no I haven't looked yet."

Ash rummaged around in one of the inside pockets of his cloak and pulled out the crumpled schedule, he straightened it out started to scan over it until he saw the name of his opponent.

"It says we are fighting a guy called Ray Jones. The match starts at 10:30, which will be the first match after the opening ceremony. Well at least that gives us the rest of the day off."

"So boss who ya choosing to use for the first battle?" Meowth asked.

Ash looked around at his Pokémon; it was an incredibly hard decision, as he knew that they were all desperate to battle. After several minutes, Ash finally made his decision.

"Butterfree you're up first."

Butterfree cheered in jubilation and Ash could him them saying yes and in your face several times. The rest of his Pokémon groaned partially because of Butterfree's gloating but mainly because they all wanted to battle.

"Come on guys you'll all get to battle at some point. Don't worry Charizard I'm saving a certain yellow rat for you." Ash said and he smirked as a sinister grin was now on Charizard's face.

"Anyway guys we've got about three hours till we have to be at the opening ceremony, so just relax and have some fun."

As soon as Ash stopped talking a water gun hit Ash in the face, everyone snickered while Blastoise tried to look innocent, well as innocent as a Blastoise can look. Ash grinned at his Pokémon and removed his cloak so it wouldn't hinder his movements.

"Oh so that's how ya wanna play huh? Well then take this."

Ash quickly former an Aura sphere and launched it at the tortoise who only just managed to dodge it. With a yell of Free-for-all, they all charged in firing attacks at each other.

After about an hour and a half of 'playing' they finally stopped their game, all of them had massive grins on their faces as they always enjoyed their fun little fights. Everyone sat down feeling completely exhausted but they all thought that it had been more than worth it. Ash stood up and went to his bag; he rummaged through it until he finally pulled out the healing poultice he had created with the water from Mt Quena's lake. He gave everyone some medicine and they all got up good as new.

"Ok guys I'm gonna take you to the Pokémon centre. Then we'll wait in the stadium till the opening ceremony begins unless any of you would rather stay here."

Luxray, Milotic, Blastoise, Donphan, Tyranitar, Heliolisk, Primeape, Gardevoir and Absol all chose to stay. Milotic dove into the spring with Blastoise, Luxray and Absol found a shaded area and decided to rest there, Gardevoir appeared to be meditating and the others had all started battling again. Ash put his cloak making sure that the hood was covering all of his face and then he left the clearing and began walking to the Pokémon centre.

* * *

When he arrived at the Pokémon Centre Ash entered the building and he saw seven people and a Pokémon that he hated almost as much as he hated Team Rocket. One of them was a redhead who was dragging a man who appeared to have no eyes by his ear while he proclaimed his love to Nurse Joy. There was a pair of Co-Ordinators who were discussing contest moves next to a boy with a despicable yellow rat on his shoulder. While the grandson of Professor Oak was talking with the Pokémon Watcher.

Ash's eyes flickered blue as his anger started rising and his Aura began flaring, he was sorely tempted to make all of them pay for what they had done and an Aura Sphere began to form in his hand but then he heard a baritone voice in his head.

_"Calm down Ash. Attacking them will do nothing except blow your cover and potentially get you kicked out of the tournament. The best way to hurt them will be to defeat them in battle and crush their spirits. Maybe then we'll be able to get confessions from them."_

"Thank you for that my friend. You are right as usual." Ash said as he calmed down and his eyes returned to their usual brown colour.

Ash walked past the traitors and handed his Pokéballs and Meowth to Nurse Joy.

"Can you take a look at my Pokémon? We did some last minute training and I wanna make sure they are ready for battle."

"Okay please take a seat; this should only take a few minutes."

Nurse Joy walked out the back with his Pokéballs leaving Ash alone with the traitors. Ash went and sat at the table that was furthest away from them, he had no choice but to sit there for what felt like an eternity and all he could do was listen to all the pointless bickering he could hear from the scum. It made him wonder how he ever put up with the idiots in the first place. Thankfully, Nurse Joy walked out with a trolley filled with Pokéballs.

"Mr Maple, Mr Oak, Miss Waterflower, Mr Slate, Miss Maple, Miss Berlitz and Mr Hayashi your Pokémon are now healed."

Ash practically leapt out of his seat and he quickly walked up to the desk and gathered his Pokéballs while Meowth jumped on his shoulder. Once he took the last of his Pokéballs off the tray, he turned around and then barged past the traitors causing Max to hit the floor. Ash stopped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the owner and saw that it was May.

"Hey you jerk you better apologise to my brother." May demanded.

Ash shrugged her hand off his shoulder.

"Make me." Ash replied.

Ash then saw a mallet coming his way out the corner of his eyes so he took a step to the left and watched as Misty fell flat on her face.

"Where does she get that mallet from? Actually forget I asked I really don't think I wanna know." Ash said which caused Meowth to burst out laughing.

"Hey I don't want fighting in my Pokémon centre!" Nurse Joy yelled.

Ash could tell by the tone in Nurse Joy's voice that she was serious.

"I apologise Nurse Joy. I will be leaving now."

Ash bowed respectfully to Nurse Joy, he then walked out of the Pokémon Centre and headed towards the main stadium, leaving seven fuming people in the Pokémon centre.

* * *

Notes

So there is the first chapter guys. Not a lot has majorly changed from the original other than the reasons behind the betrayal. Will you find out what each of them got from Giovanni in exchange for betraying Ash? Probably not, I might just leave you all wondering for the entire story.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like, it really helps me improve.

If you have any questions, I am more than happy to answer them.

Combo Moves

Elemental Combat – Thunder Punch + Fire Punch + Close Combat

Thunder Pulse – Thunderbolt + Water Pulse

Ice Aqua Jet – Ice Punch + Aqua Jet


	2. The Championship of Legends Begins

Thank you everyone who took the time to review. I really appreciate it.

Here is chapter 2 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

Ash walked towards the main stadium with smug smile on his face, he had to admit that he had gotten some satisfaction from the fact that he had pissed his former friends off so easily. He could sense a similar feeling of satisfaction coming from the Pokémon residing in the four Pokéballs hanging from his necklace.

"So I'm guessing that you guys enjoyed that as much as I did." Ash said.

"_Indeed we did. You did well Ash. I'm proud of you" _Mewtwo replied.

"_Yeah you were really awesome." _Mew added.

"_It was great watching that bitch fall flat on her face." _Celebi said.

"_Just tell us when are we gonna get a chance to teach them a lesson. I really wanna make that little brat pay."_ Jirachi declared.

"_Yeah and we want our shot at the bitch and the pervert."_ Celebi and Mew growled angrily.

"We will get our chance to make them pay but we can't go around attacking them in a Pokémon Centre."

"_You could have challenged them to a match."_ Celebi suggested.

"Yes I could have done that but I would rather humiliate them in front of a crowd. There isn't as much satisfaction in beating them with no one around and remember we've also got to find a way to prove that they were members of Team Rocket."

"_You'd better get moving Ash and get to the stadium." _Mewtwo stated.

Ash looked at his watch and saw that there was plenty of time until the ceremony starts however; he wanted to get there early and find somewhere to stand and avoid the monotonous chatter that will fill the stadium. He slightly picked up the pace and with half an hour to spare Ash walked into the main stadium where the opening ceremony and his first round match were taking place. He looked around at the packed stadium looking for a secluded area where hopefully nobody would disturb him and saw an area on the back wall that was partially obstructed by a pillar. Since that was the only choice he had, he went over and leant against the wall. He closed his eyes and blocked out all the mindless chitchat so he could mentally prepare himself for the tournament.

After a few moments Ash felt a pair of very familiar Aura's, a small smirk appeared on his face, as he knew who it was. Ash opened his eyes and looked at the two people he now saw as he best friends. The first was Richie Hiroshi who he had fought just over ten years ago in this very stadium and since that day, they had been firm friends. The second person was Paul Shinji who Ash had met in Sinnoh just over seven years ago. At first, Paul had been incredibly cold and harsh to everyone whether they were humans or Pokémon but after meeting Ash, he had lightened up a little. He still put up a harsh front to most people but he was unshakeably loyal to the few people he saw as friends.

"Hey Takeo." They both said.

"Hey guys. It's great to see you." Ash replied.

"Well it's good to see that you decided to show up. I've been looking forward to a rematch." Paul said.

"So have I." Richie added.

"Same here guys." Ash said.

While the trio reconciled Ash caught sight of his former friends walking into the stadium, he clenched his fists, the joy on his face faded and a piercing glare took its place. Paul and Richie looked in the same direction wondering what had caused this swing in emotion and saw them. They watched as Max led the group while they started pushing through the crowd not bothering to apologise when they knocked people over. The group faded out of view after a few moments, which made Ash calm down. He felt a hand clasp his shoulder and saw Richie looking at him with a concerned expression on his face.

"You okay mate?" Richie asked.

"Yeah I'm fine thanks. I just can't wait to crush them and somehow prove that they were part of Team Rocket." Ash replied.

Paul and Richie nodded in understanding, they both wanted a shot at the scum and if they got that shot, they would make them pay.

"So what have you guys been up to since I last saw you?" Ash asked wanting to change the topic to something less grim.

"Well I won the Silver Conference and Paul won the Lily of the Valley Conference. It was a bit disappointed really since neither of us really had much competition until we got to the final. Ever since you left the battling circuit has really gone downhill and there are very few challenging trainers out there."

"So did you challenge the Elites?" Ash asked.

"Yeah we managed to beat the Elites but we couldn't overcome Lance and Cynthia." Paul replied sounding disappointed.

"Well this could be your chance to get another shot at them." Ash said.

Richie and Paul nodded in response feeling slightly buoyed by Ash's words. They both wanted a chance to avenge their losses however, the sheer number of competitors it was very unlikely that they would get that chance during the tournament.

While everyone else was deep in thought, Sparky noticed something happening on the stage. He tapped Richie's shoulder and pointed to the stage; Richie looked at where Sparky was pointing and saw an elderly man walking on to the stage

"Hey guys it looks like the ceremony is beginning." Richie declared.

All three of them immediately turned their attention to the stage and watched as Charles Goodshow walked over to the mic. He took the microphone from its stand and stepped onto a podium that allowed him to see everyone in the stadium.

"Attention all trainers I'd like to welcome you all to the third decennial Championship of Legends. We have carefully chosen every one of you in this stadium because of your skills to compete in this tournament where the greatest trainer in the world will be decided. Here to explain the rules is the reigning Champion, Lance." Mr Goodshow declared.

Mr Goodshow stepped off the podium and handed the microphone to the Dragon Tamer who took Mr Goodshow's place on the podium.

"Thank you Mr Goodshow. This tournament uses standard elimination rules; if you lose a match, you are eliminated. In the first round, all the competitors who do not possess a title within a region for example a Gym Leader compete. In the second round, the competitors with titles will start competing. The winner of the tournament receives the title of being the best Pokémon trainer in the world. He or she will also be made Champion of Kanto and be allowed to create their own Elite Four."

This gained Ash, Paul and Richie's attention; they had not expected to hear the position of Kanto Champion be a prize for winning this tournament.

"Well this tournament just got a lot more interesting." Ash murmured.

Richie and Paul nodded in agreement and then the trio turned their attention back to Lance.

"Now let's get the tournament under way. Will Ray Jones and Takeo Hayashi please come to the battlefield?"

Ash pushed himself off the wall and a smirk appeared on his face, he was really looking forward to seeing how well his training over the past seven years had paid off.

"Well that's my cue. I'll see you guys later."

"Hey you'd better not lose Takeo only I'm allowed to eliminate you." Paul replied.

Ash chuckled and gave both Richie and Paul a bro hug.

"You and Richie better not lose either."

Richie and Paul merely nodded in response and then Ash walked over to the battlefield and stood in his trainer box across from his opponent. He studied the man stood opposite him and could tell that although he was strong and probably deserved to be at the tournament he was completely outmatched.

"Hello everyone and welcome to the first match of the Championship of Legends. My name is Jonathan Pearce and today I'll be your commentator. Now to introduce our competitors, standing in the red trainer box from Celadon in Kanto Ray Jones. He has managed to get to the semi-finals in the Sinnoh, Johto and Kanto Leagues and it took the winners of the leagues to beat him, he is certainly one of the underdogs in this tournament. He's known for hitting hard and fast this however has been known to make his Pokémon vulnerable if his opponent can withstand the initial assault."

The crowd let out a loud cheer and a massive round of applause, Ash could hear the annoying screeches of fan girls fawning over him.

"And his opponent standing in the green trainer box from parts unknown Takeo Hayashi."

The stadium suddenly went silent as everyone looked at the hooded man wondering who he actually was. Several members of the crowd started to murmur to each other as they studied the hooded man.

"We have no information on the mysterious hooded man so he is no doubt the dark horse of the tournament. Well now that the competitors have been introduced let's turn our attention to the jumbotron and see what rules the random generator chooses for this battle."

Everyone immediately watched the massive screen as it displayed the various rules of battle. They watched as the rules flickered on the screen until it finally chose a set of rules.

"Well it looks like we're back to basics as this will be single battle where both trainers use three Pokémon. No substitutions allowed and moves such as Volt Switch and U-Turn are illegal. Ray will choose his Pokémon first."

Ash smirked as he heard the rules of the match, this would be a perfect opportunity to show off his power. He looked at Ray who pulled a Pokéball off his belt.

"You don't stand a chance Hayashi; you might as well give up now." Ray boasted.

Ash yawned in response to Ray's cockiness, which angered him.

"You're up Flareon!" Ray yelled.

The fire Eeveelution burst out of its Pokéball and landed on the battlefield, he glanced around the stadium until his eyes landed on Ash. A focussed look appeared on the Eeveelutions face and he took up a battle stance.

Ash couldn't believe that he'd gotten so lucky, not only would Butterfree get to prove how strong they are he would be able to do it against a Pokémon that he's at a disadvantage against.

"Butterfree may the Aura guide you."

Butterfree came out in a flash and hovered in the air in front of Ash.

'I'm ready Ash.' Butterfree said.

* * *

Up in the stands the eyes of a certain yellow Pokémon widened in shock. He was certain he heard that Butterfree call his trainer Ash not Takeo which immediately made him suspicious of the cloaked man. Then again, he could have been overthinking things but Pikachu had to admit that something about the Butterfree seemed familiar. Although Pikachu knew that Ash released his Butterfree, a long time ago and he wouldn't be able to find him again one or would he? Pikachu put a paw to his head as he felt like his head was gonna explode due to thinking about all of the possibilities. Max looked at Pikachu and was worried to see his top battler holding his head and appearing to be deep in thought.

"Hey Pikachu, you okay?" Max asked.

Pikachu just nodded hoping that would show he was fine which Max seemed to accept. He looked down at the battlefield and knew that he would have to do some investigating to find out who the cloaked man really is.

* * *

Meanwhile on the battlefield Ray and his Flareon were laughing at the Butterfree hovering in front of their hooded opponent. They couldn't believe that someone who would willingly select a Pokémon with a type disadvantage would get an invitation to this prestigious tournament. They weren't going to complain about getting an easy first round win though.

"You're actually choosing a pathetic bug to fight my Flareon. You must have bought your way into this tournament." Ray taunted.

Butterfree was infuriated by the utter disrespect he was being shown by them and growled angrily. Usually Butterfree was one of the calmer more level headed Pokémon in their family however it was times like this that he snapped.

'Ash let's crush this guy!' Butterfree yelled.

"You've got it pal. Hey Ray you know what they say ladies first. So go ahead and make your move."

This made Meowth and Butterfree snicker and caused Ray to see red, one of his biggest weaknesses was his rather short fuse and when he loses his cool he tends to make mistakes which have been what cost him dearly in past match.

"Nobody mocks me! Flareon roast that bug with Flamethrower!"

"Butterfree use Double Team to dodge."

Flareon opened his mouth and shot a stream of flames at Butterfree, the fire Eeveelution watched cockily as the Flamethrower got rapidly closer to Butterfree. However, the cocky look was replaced with one of shock as he watched his attack passed straight through an illusion. Flareon looked around trying to spot the real Butterfree but couldn't find him; he looked up and saw dozens of copies hovering above mocking him. He stared at each tried to identify which one was the real Butterfree but all of the copies were identical. Flareon growled in anger as he looked at the Butterfree taunting him.

"Flareon use Flamethrower until you get rid of all the copies." Ray growled.

"Butterfree dive down to dodge the flames and then use Psychic to throw Flareon into the wall."

Flareon fired a barrage of Flamethrowers at all of the Butterfree surrounding him, one by one he gradually eliminated some of the copies however he was still surrounded by dozens and was starting to feel the effects of using Flamethrower so many times in quick succession. Flareon shot a Flamethrower at another of the Butterfree and watched as the real Butterfree dived under the Flamethrower, he saw the bugs eyes glow blue and suddenly found himself unable to move. He looked down at his body and saw that he was being trapped by some kind of blue energy, he felt himself be lifted in the air and tried to fight out of the psychic hold but he wasn't strong enough.

Ash and Butterfree felt mildly smug as they watched Flareon struggle to break free until he finally realised that he had no chance of breaking the psychic hold and a resigned look appeared on the Eeveelutions face. That was what Butterfree had been waiting for so he threw Flareon towards the stadium wall as hard as he could and watched he crash straight through the wall and have a pile of rubble land on him.

To Ash and Butterfree's surprise Flareon pulled himself out of the rubble and he slowly walked back on to the battlefield until he was stood in front of Ray. Both Ash and Butterfree saw that although the Eeveelution was trying to put up a strong appearance his legs were wobbling and it was clearly taking a great deal of effort to stay on his feet.

Ray growled in annoyance as he looked at Flareon who was struggling to stay on his feet, he just couldn't believe that a puny bug was beating his powerful Flareon.

"Flareon full power Fire Blast" He yelled angrily.

"Hyper Beam" Ash replied in a calm voice.

Flareon released a powerful stream of flames, which took the shape of the kanji, and it shot straight at Butterfree. In response, Butterfree formed an orange orb in front of himself and shot a massive orange beam from the orb. To almost everyone's surprise Butterfree's Hyper Beam clashed with Flareon's Fire Blast and Butterfree Hyper Beam easily cut straight through the flames, the beam carried on and shot at Flareon who was too weak to move. The beam hit Flareon and created a huge explosion, which shrouded the fire type in smoke, Butterfree gently flapped his wings to clear the smoke that revealed Flareon unconscious in a huge crater.

The stadium was eerily silent as they were all astonished that a bug Pokémon had just easily beaten a fire type without taking a hit. The crowd snapped out of their shock and the stadium erupted with cheers. This made Ray growl angrily as he saw several of his fans and their feet and could hear them cheering for his hooded opponent.

"Flareon is unable to battle. Ray choose your next Pokémon."

Ray returned Flareon and placed his Pokéball back on his belt; he then pulled out another Pokéball and stared at Ash and Butterfree who were smirking at him.

"That was just luck, believe me when I say that it won't happen a second time. Onix let's crush this bug."

Ray threw his Pokéball in the air, the captured device burst open and the ground shook at the giant rock worm landed on the battlefield. Onix saw that his opponent was a tiny little Butterfree and looked back at his trainer wondering why he had summoned him for what looked to be an easy fight. The look on pure rage on his trainers face and the smirks on his opponent's faces told him that they had pissed off his trainer and he wanted to make them pay.

"Onix use Iron Tail on the ground then use Rock Throw."

In mere seconds, the rock worm's tail turned metallic and he slammed his tail into the ground as hard as he could. The power of the attack destroyed the flat surface of the battlefield and turned it into a rubble-strewn wasteland. Onix saw some larger pieces that were more like boulders remained so he wrapped his tail around them and threw the rocks at Butterfree.

"Use Protect to stop the boulders. Then form an Energy Ball and a Shadow Ball and use Gust to launch them at Onix."

Butterfree hovered in place and watched the boulders that were speeding towards him. When the rocks were mere inches away, Butterfree created a golden shield in front of him that caused the boulders to ricochet off it and crash to the ground destroying even more of the battlefield. Butterfree then formed an orb of green energy and an orb of black energy in front of him and launched them at Onix. The orbs shot towards Onix and were then sped up Butterfree flapping his wings incredibly fast, the orbs were moving so fast that they were just a blur, which meant that Onix had no chance to avoid them.

The orbs slammed into Onix which made the rock worm let out a deafening pain filled roar, everyone watched as Onix started to sway from side to side until he finally keeled over and slammed on to the battlefield causing a massive tremor that shook the very stadium. The impact also created a massive dust cloud that covered the entire battlefield, Butterfree used gust again to clear the dust cloud, which revealed Onix who was unconscious.

"Onix is unable to battle. Ray choose your last Pokémon"

Ray's anger faded as he saw his second best Pokémon fall to the deceptively strong Butterfree. Ray recalled Onix and sighed sadly, as he placed the Pokéball back in its slot; he looked across the battlefield at Butterfree and could see that it wasn't even breathing heavily. At that moment Ray realised that, Hayashi was far more powerful than him but that did not mean he would go down without a fight. He pulled his third and final Pokéball off his belt and clenched it tightly.

"Hayashi! I know I cannot win but I am not giving up. Skarmory let's do this"

Ash felt a great deal of respect for Ray and his attitude, although his anger had clouded his judgement earlier he was showing that he was truly dedicated to his Pokémon. Ash watched as Ray threw his finally Pokéball and Skarmory burst out its Pokémon and let out a skull-splitting screech, as it appeared causing many of the audience to cover their ears in an attempt to block out the painful sound.

"Skarmory use Steel Wing."

"Match him Butterfree."

Skarmory's already metallic wings shimmered to indicate that the attack was ready and Butterfree's wings turned metallic. Skarmory and Butterfree paused for a moment and then flew forward each other, the pair collided and sparks flew as their metallic wings clash. Both Pokémon veered around and aimed for each other again, their wings clashed but like before, neither of them seemed to gain an advantage. Ash watched as both Pokémon kept clashing and he could see that this was getting nowhere fast so he came up with a new strategy.

"Butterfree disengage and use Ominous Silver Wind." Ash said.

After one more clash of wings, Butterfree broke away from Skarmory and his wings turned black as he began flapping them, which sent a dark wind containing several specks of silvery dust at Skarmory. The attack hit the steel type and stopped Skarmory who had been aiming another Steel Wing at Butterfree from moving and it gradually pushed him back.

"Skarmory break through and use Brave Bird."

Skarmory used all of his strength to struggle through Butterfree's attack, it was hard work but he eventually managed to power through the wind. With no barrier between him and Butterfree, he tucked in his wings and shot at Butterfree as quickly as he could. Butterfree saw the attack coming and simply waited for Ash to give an instruction, he knew that he could easily dodge but he trusted Ash's judgement.

"Wait for it Butterfree... wait for it... now use Electroweb!"

When Skarmory was mere inches away, Butterfree fired a net of electricity at him. The net surrounded Skarmory and trapped him; the net then shrank and wrapped around Skarmory's body sending several painful electrical shocks through the flying type's body. Skarmory screeched in agony as he tried desperately to break out of his electrical prison but the harder he struggled the worse the shocks got.

His attempts to escape were futile and eventually the amount of damage he had taken became too much for his exhausted body to handle and he lost consciousness. Seeing that his opponent was unconscious Butterfree dissolved the net but then realised that they were high in the sky, which meant that Skarmory began to falling to the ground at an incredibly high speed. Ray had a horrified look on his face as he watched his Pokémon plummet towards the destroyed battlefield.

"SKARMORY!" Ray yelled out in fear for his Pokémon.

Ray took Skarmory's Pokéball off his belt and tried to return him but due to how far away Skarmory was and how fast he was falling it was incredibly hard to judge where to aim so Ray kept missing his target. Ray was so worried about Skarmory that he didn't see Butterfree flying down after Skarmory.

"Butterfree quick use Psychic and lower Skarmory to the ground."

Butterfree's eyes glowed blue and a similar glow surrounded Skarmory, which froze him in mid-air inches away from the jagged rocks. Butterfree slowly descended with Skarmory and gently placed the flying type on the ground next to Ray who quickly returned him. Butterfree then fluttered over to Ash and landed on his shoulder. Ash could see that Butterfree was exhausted which considering the massive amount of power he had had to use to catch Skarmory wasn't surprising. Ash gently stroked Butterfree's head, thanked him for his hard work, and returned him to his Pokéball.

"Skarmory is unable to battle. Ray Jones is out of Pokémon so the winner is Takeo Hayashi."

Ray walked over to Ash and offered his hand, Ash shook the offered hand and applause rang out from around the stadium at seeing such sportsmanship between the trainers.

"Thanks for saving Skarmory and I'm sorry for insulting you and your Butterfree."

"Don't worry about it I'm just glad Skarmory is okay."

Ray broke the handshake and then walked away towards the tunnel that led out of the stadium leaving Ash and Meowth alone in the stadium chanting his name. Ash ignored the cheers and walked out down the tunnel as quickly as he could.

Up in the stands seven people looked on angrily as they watched the hooded man walk out of the stadium. They had been cheering for Ray throughout the entire match hoping to see him eliminate Takeo.

"I can't believe that jerk won!" Max yelled

May wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulders reassuringly.

"Don't worry Max you'll take him down I know it." May said.

Max looked around and everyone was nodding as they agreed with May.

"Yeah I'll beat him easily."

While everyone else agreed with Max, Pikachu wasn't paying attention to any of that. He was sat there stunned at what he had just witnessed; once again, he started to wonder if that really was Ash Ketchum and if it was then what on Earth had happened to him in the last seven years. He shook his head banishing the thought for now, he fully intended to think about this more later but now he had to think about Max's match in an hours' time and he needed to be focussed and ready for battle.

* * *

Meanwhile up in the V.I.P box, the Gym Leaders, Elite Fours, Champions and six of the seven Frontier Brains were amazed at what they had just witnessed. It was very rare that such dominance was seen at a tournament as prestigious as this especially when it was an unknown competitor doing the dominating. It was a revelation for several of them as that demonstration showed that this tournament would not be a cakewalk for them especially if they had to fight against competitors like Takeo. The reigning champion Lance felt someone nudge him; he looked and saw Steven the Hoenn Champion.

"It seems we may have some competition." Steven said and Lance just nodded in response.

While everyone else was discussing what they had just seen Scott watched Ash walk out of the stadium and remembered he had promised to meet him up at the Pokémon Centre. He looked at Anabel and saw her staring off into the distance again; the broken empty look in her eyes broke Scott's heart. He turned his gaze to Greta who was sat next to Anabel looking sadly at her; of all the Frontier Brains, she had taken Anabel's decline hardest. Scott placed a hand on Greta's shoulder, which gained the Arena Tycoon's attention.

"I need you to come with me." Scott whispered

"Why?" Greta asked confusedly.

Scott replied by looking at Anabel and then back to her, Greta immediately understood what Scott was implying so she tapped Anabel on the shoulder to get her attention. Greta touch brought Anabel back from her daydream and she looked at Greta.

"Hey Anabel Scott needs my help with something. Will you be okay?"

"I guess." She replied half-heartedly

Anabel then shrugged lazily and then went back to staring into space. Greta looked sympathetically at Anabel and then stood up; she took one last look at Anabel who paid her no heed before following Scott out of the V.I.P box. He led her out of the stadium and took her to the Pokémon Centre to wait for Ash. They sat down at a table and Greta watched as Scott was staring at the door.

"So Scott what do you need me for?" Greta asked

"Well Takeo is concerned about Anabel after what Brandon said yesterday. He asked about her and I promised Takeo that I would tell him about Anabel's behaviour over the last seven years.

"Why is he so concerned? And why did you tell him?"

"Takeo knows Anabel very well and he is naturally worried about her. I truly think he can help her but he needs all the facts before he tries helping her and you know some things that I don't." Greta nodded with a pained look in her eyes.

"Alright Scott if you truly think he can help I will tell him everything." Greta said reluctantly.

Scott looked at Greta gratefully and then wrapped a comforting arm around her hoping that he was indeed right and that Ash would be able to bring their Anabel back.

* * *

After a short walk out of the stadium Ash found Richie and Paul waiting for him. The former ran over to Ash and clapped Ash on the back while the later walk over and smirked at Ash.

"Great job Takeo." Richie said enthusiastically.

"Yeah not bad Hayashi." Paul added.

"Thanks guys. So when are your matches starting?"

"I'm up in an hour in stadium three." Richie replied.

"I'm battling in stadium two in half an hour."

"So now that you've got the rest of the day off what are you going to do?" Richie asked.

"I've got an important meeting with Scott. So how about I call your Pokénav's when I'm done and we can meet up?"

"Sounds good to me." Richie said.

"Yeah what he said." Paul said with his usual enthusiasm, though he was smirking as he said it.

The trio quickly exchanged their numbers and then they went their separate ways. Richie and Paul went towards the stadiums they were competing in and Ash walked towards the Pokémon Centre to get Butterfree healed. He did consider watching one of his friend battle but decided that it would just be a waste of time since both Richie and Paul would have no trouble annihilating their opponents.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Ash there were two men watching his every move from the treeline, both men were wearing cloaks that covered their bodies, the only things visible were their eyes that were burning with hatred. The larger of the two men took a Pokéball out of his pocket and started stomping out of the treeline; however, the smaller man grabbing hold of his arm stopped him. The larger man scowled at the smaller one and wrenched his arm free.

"Come on he's on his own let's get him." The larger man said.

"No you fool that is an imbecilic idea. Not only does he have that blasted cat with him but I would be willing to bet that he has several of his Pokémon with him too. Right now we can't deal with him, we need additional help or something that will tip the scales in our favour." The other man replied.

The larger man growled angrily and turned his hateful gaze back to Ketchum who was laughing with the Meowth sat on his shoulder.

"I know you want revenge against Ketchum, believe me I do as well but we have to be smart about this."

Although he wanted to argue and convince his friend to attack Ketchum now the larger man knew that his friend was right about this so he simply nodded and placed the Pokéball back in his pocket.

"Now let's get out of here before we're spotted."

The larger man nodded again and then followed his friend as he walked deeper into the forest.

* * *

Notes

I will explain how Ash caught Celebi, Mew and Jirachi later in the story.

Who are the two men in shadows and why do they want revenge on Ash?

Readers of the old version will notice that I have cut a chunk from the end of this chapter. This is because I want to edit the structure of the chapters.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions, I am more than happy to answer them.

Combo Moves

Ominous Silver Wind – Ominous Wind + Silver Wind


	3. Ash and Anabel - Together at Last

I want to thank everyone who took the time to review so far. I really appreciate it.

I am sorry for the long wait guys, my grandmother passed away recently so I have been dealing with that.

Some people have questioned me about the language and aggressiveness in Mew, Celebi and Jirachi's dialogue in the last chapter. My response is that they only speak like that when it is about the traitors or anyone evil. Most of the time they are kind and playful.

This chapter has not had a lot of modification, it is mainly adding a few sentences, reorganising parts so they make sense and trying to fix any errors.

In addition, if you are going to ask questions in a review can you make sure that you allow private messaging so I can reply to them.

Here is chapter 3 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Ash walked into the Pokémon Centre and saw Scott and Greta sat in the corner, which made him raise an eyebrow as he had assumed it would just be him and Scott discussing Anabel. He shook the thought away and focussed on getting Butterfree healed, he went up to Nurse Joy who was looking bored behind the desk and handed Butterfree's Pokéball to her. Nurse Joy took Butterfree's Pokéball and placed it in the healing machine. Ash knew that it could take a few minutes to heal Butterfree so he walked over to Scott and Greta and sat down at the table.

"Hey Scott, I thought it was going to just be the two of us so what's Greta doing here?"

"Well she has some important information you need to know Takeo."

Ash looked to Greta wondering what she could know that is so crucial that her presence was needed however Scott said Greta has important information about Anabel so he wasn't going to question him.

"Okay, well once Butterfree's healed we can go."

The trio sat in silence while as they waited for Nurse Joy to return with Butterfree's Pokéball. After a few minutes the silence started to bother Scott and Greta, they exchanged a glance and then stared at their hooded companion. To Greta and Scott's relief Nurse Joy reappeared with a Pokéball in her hand.

"Mr Hayashi your Butterfree is fully healed." Nurse Joy announced.

Ash got up and walked up to the desk; he smiled at Nurse Joy and took Butterfree's Pokéball from her, placing it in his pocket.

"Thank you for healing Butterfree." Ash said gratefully.

"I'm happy to help your Pokémon." Nurse Joy replied.

"By the way when can I expect my schedule for the next round?"

"Well due to the large number of contestants in the tournament Round one takes two days. So come back in a couple of days and your next opponent will have been chosen."

"Okay, thank you Nurse Joy."

Nurse Joy smiled and gave Ash a quick nod, which Ash returned, he then turned around and walked over to Scott and Greta who were waiting by the door for him. Scott then led the Ash and Greta out of the Pokémon centre. Once outside Ash stopped and looked at Meowth.

"Hey Meowth can you take everyone to the others so they can relax." Ash asked.

Meowth almost replied to Ash however, he remembered that Greta was here so he held his tongue and simply nodded. Ash took out all of his Pokéballs except for Charizard's and handed them to Meowth. He considered sending Charizard with him but he knew he might need to use the dragon as transportation. Meowth then walked away from the Pokémon Centre and headed to the treeline, when Meowth faded from view Ash turned his attention back to Scott and Greta.

"So where are we going to talk about Anabel." Ash asked.

"Well Takeo I suggest that we talk in my hotel room. That way we won't have to worry about anyone overhearing us and we won't be interrupted." Scott replied.

Ash saw the sense in Scott's idea so he nodded and followed Scott and Greta as they started walking towards their hotel.

* * *

The journey to the hotel was awkward to say the least, no words were said between the trio, which had made all three of them feel quite uncomfortable. To everyone's relief the hotel came into sight a few minutes later, they entered the building and took the lift to the top floor. Once at the top they stepped out of the elevator and walked down the corridor until they came to Scott's room. He opened the door and they all took a seat in the chairs scattered around the room. Ash looked expectantly at Scott and Greta and could tell by the looks in their eyes that whatever had happened in the past seven years must be bad.

"So Scott please can you tell me everything that's happened in the past seven years from the very beginning? And please don't leave anything out."

"Okay Takeo, it all started on the day of Ash Ketchum's disappearance. Anabel had come to me that morning asking if she could close the Battle Tower for a few days. When I asked why she said that she wanted to go to Pallet Town to see Ash. I had a hunch that she was intending to tell Ash how she felt about him so I gladly let her close the Battle Tower."

Ash looked down guiltily as he felt overwhelming feelings of guilt and regret gnawing at him.

"She thanked me repeatedly for about ten minutes and left with a huge smile plastered across her face. That is the last time I saw that smile on her face. She came back a few hours' later in tears and told me what had happened in Pallet. I could see how heartbroken she was so I decided to shut down the Battle Tower and I escorted her home. I just couldn't leave her on her own in the state she was in; I don't know how long I sat there trying to comfort her until she eventually cried herself to sleep." Ash could see Scott was finding it hard speaking about this.

Scott exhaled. He didn't think it would be this hard for him to tell Ash about this. However, it was proving to be by far the hardest thing he had ever done. He glanced at Greta and wondered how on Earth Greta would cope with telling her part. Scott cleared his thoughts and carried on.

"When she woke up the next morning she said she was going to try and find Ash. She sent out her Alakazam and before I had a chance to stop her she was gone. She ended up spending a week searching every inch of Kanto for him before she came home."

Ash couldn't believe it; he had only stayed in Vermillion City for a couple of days to pick up Squirtle and Primeape before going back to Sinnoh. He started wondering how different things would have been if he had just stayed a few days longer.

"Reluctantly she agreed to stop looking in Kanto after me and the other Brains begged her to stop searching Kanto. However, she was determined to go to the other regions and not stop until she found him; this worried me, as she knew next to nothing about the other regions so there was no telling what could happen to her. Luckily, I was able to convince her not to be rash and tear through the regions looking for Ash by promising her that I would call in several favours from people throughout the six regions and see if they could find him. "

"But they couldn't." Ash said solemnly.

"No, they searched for months trying to track him down but no trace of him could be found despite our best efforts."

Ash remembered how much effort he had put into covering his tracks shortly after the incident. During that time he didn't want to be found by anyone, he was in a very bad place due to the soul crushing betrayal. All he wanted some solitude as he tried to deal with his problems, he had known that some people had tried to follow him but he had always managed to evade them.

"After that Anabel started blocking everyone out and she started acting less and less like herself. It started off with minor things like missing meetings every once in a while, then she was turning down invites to go out with all the other Brains and eventually she had completely locked herself away in her home." Greta stated.

"We theorised that due to her empathic powers her emotions are heightened so extreme emotions like love and sorrow could be intensified however when we asked she just shrugged and said she didn't know. It was like this for three months and everyday at least one of us would visit her and try to get her to talk to us but everyday all we got was silence." Scott said.

"What happened after the three months?" Ash asked.

"We were all amazed when out of the blue she began coming to meetings again and she even re-opened the Battle Tower. She would put on fake smiles around us thinking we would not notice, but we did. We also noticed how she was always wearing outfits with long sleeves even in hot weather. At first we thought nothing of it as she usually dressed that way in the past." Scott now had his head in his hands and tears were leaking from his eyes.

Ash was terrified at what he was hearing, he was praying to Arceus and anyone else listening that they weren't about to say what he thought they were.

Scott looked at Greta "Can you please tell him what you saw that day Greta?" She nodded, but was clearly struggling to keep her composure.

* * *

**WARNING SCENE OF SELF-HARM BEGINS NOW!**

Flashback (Approximately six years ago)

Greta was walking to Anabel's house to check on her and see if she was willing to talk today. All of the Frontier Brains and Scott did this on a regular basis to see how she was as they were all worried about her. They had all had their spirits lifted when recently she had started to open up a bit but there were many days that she would completely ignore them.

Greta arrived at Anabel's house and knocked on the door, she waited for a few moments before knocking again and to her surprise, she got no response. Usually Anabel either told them to go away or opened the door so they could talk. Greta thought that Anabel might have left the door open so she could come in; she turned the doorknob and found that the door was unlocked. She walked inside the house and could hear that Anabel was sobbing upstairs. Greta immediately grabbed a Pokéball for protection just in case a robber had broken in and was hurting her.

Greta walked upstairs as quietly as possible making sure to avoid any of the creaky floorboards. When she got to the top of the stairs she headed towards the bathroom since it seemed that Anabel's sobs were was coming from there. She slowly opened the door already prepared to attack whoever was hurting Anabel however, she stopped in her tracks when she saw the scene in front of her. She felt sick as she saw Anabel stood at the sink with a knife in her right hand that had blood dripping from it; the blood had made a pool of red on the counter, which was mixing with the tears that were streaming down her face. More droplets of blood were landing slightly to the side of the puddle and Greta looked at the source of the blood and saw that it was slowly seeping out of the long gash on her left arm.

Greta let out a horrified gasp at the scene, which got Anabel's attention, and she turned to face Greta. The Frontier Brains stood in silence staring into each other's eyes and time seemed to stand still. Suddenly Anabel dropped the knife, which clattered, in the basin and her eyes rolled back as she fell forwards. Greta was quick to react and luckily caught Anabel before she crashed to the floor. Greta carried the limp Anabel to the nearest bedroom and placed her on the bed. She went back to the bathroom to get some medical supplies and bandaged Anabel's arm to the best of her ability. After washing the blood off her hands, Greta pulled her Pokénav out of her pocket and called Scott.

Scott picked up his Pokénav "Hi Greta what's up?" He said.

"I-I-it's Anabel, Scott y-y-y-you gotta get here NOW!"

Scott was worried as Greta was not one to stumble over her words unless something was seriously wrong.

Hang on I'll be there in a minute." Scott said in a panicked voice.

A few minutes later Greta heard a car screech to a stop outside, she heard the door swing up open and bash against the wall as Scott ran into the house.

"Greta where are you?" Scott yelled.

"I-I-I'm up here Scott i-in Anabel's room." She stuttered.

Scott bounded up the stairs and burst into the room. He only had to look at the bandage on her left arm and the marks littering her right to know what had happened.

"Oh no. Oh dear Arceus no." Scott said.

Scott walked to the bed and fell to his knees as he took a closer look at the damage Anabel had done to herself. Greta knelt next to him and had tears trickling down her face; they stared at Anabel and wondered how it had come to this.

"What do we do Scott?" Greta asked between sobs.

"I don't know Greta. I really don't know." Scott replied.

Flashback over

**SCENE OF SELF HARM ENDED**

* * *

Greta had been struggling to keep it together while she told Takeo about that horrid memory but as soon as she finished it became too much for her to handle, she broke down and started sobbing. Scott immediately pulled her into a hug in an attempt to calm her down, he held her tightly as she cried into his shirt. He turned his attention back to Ash and saw that he was staring at the ground in front of him.

"After the incident we made her see a psychiatrist several times a week hoping that we could try and help her. We also made sure that at least one of us was with her at all times, everyday one of us would spend the night there just in case she tried anything during the night. This went on for a couple of years until the psychiatrist said that since she hadn't tried to hurt herself again and there was no evidence that she would she was allowed to be left on her own again. Greta and I still check on her a few times a week though just to make sure she doesn't have a relapse."

Scott stopping talking and the only sound in the room was Greta's muffled sobs. After a couple of minutes Ash fell off his chair and landed on his knees, he made no attempt to get up as he pounded the floor angrily while tears streamed down his cheeks. He hadn't cried since that day seven years ago as he had managed to keep his emotions in check, but now he just couldn't stop crying at the fact that one of his worst nightmares had now become a reality.

"It's all my fault. It's all my fucking fault." Ash said repeatedly.

He didn't care if Greta found out who he was, after what he had just heard the only thing that mattered to Ash was Anabel. Hearing Takeo blame himself for what happened confused Greta.

"Scott why is Takeo blaming himself?" She asked between sobs.

Scott saw no reason to lie to Greta anymore, after telling Ash about the memory she had just relived she deserved to know the truth.

"Because Takeo is Ash Ketchum."

Greta's eyes widened in shock and she realised why Scott had said only Takeo could help Anabel. Scott and Great turned their attention to Ash when he suddenly got to his feet and looked straight at Scott.

"Where's Anabel's room?" Ash asked.

"Ash maybe you should calm down first before you confront Anabel. It is no good seeing her when you are in this state. Besides she'll still be at the stadium watching the first round with the others." Scott said trying to reason with Ash.

After giving it, a moment's thought Ash reluctantly agreed with Scott and started to calm himself down. Although he wanted to see Anabel, he knew that if she saw him in this state it would be more likely to scare her than comfort her.

"When will she get back?" Ash asked in as calm a tone as he could manage.

"The first round matches end in about an hour. So she should be back in an hour and a half." Scott said relieved that Ash had chosen to take his advice.

Greta wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes and got up from her seat; she walked over to Ash and punched him, which sent Ash crashing to the floor.

"Listen you bastard you better fix this otherwise there will be nowhere for you to hide from me." Greta growled.

Ash rubbed his cheek and nodded, Greta was satisfied with the response as she saw the guilt in his eyes.

"Scott I'm gonna head to my room and try to get some sleep. Bringing up these horrid memories has left me feeling exhausted."

Scott nodded and Greta left the room leaving Ash and Scott alone. Scott looked at Ash and saw that he was still staring at the ground, the look in his eyes and his general posture showed that he was feeling incredibly guilty about what had happened. Scott sat down next to Ash and placed a hand on his shoulder making Ash turn his attention to Scott.

"Ash stop blaming yourself. There is no way any of us could have foreseen this."

"But I should have gone to her or someone else I trusted first and told them what happened. Instead I just ran away and didn't take into account other people's feelings."

"Ash in hindsight yes you probably should have gone to someone but you were in a very dark place after the incident seven years ago. I don't think that anyone could possible hold your actions against you. Anyway the past doesn't matter now, the only thing that matters now is what you are going to do to make things right."

"Ok Scott, you're right. Hey do you mind if I stay in here and take a nap until Anabel gets back?"

"Sure Ash you get some rest, I think Greta had the right idea about getting some sleep. Don't worry I'll make sure to wake you up when Anabel gets back."

"Thanks Scott." Ash said, he then laid down and fell asleep.

* * *

Time skip (an hour and a half)

Scott had been sitting at the table waiting for Anabel to return diligently, he suddenly heard a door slam shut in the corridor. He knew that the only one of his Brain's that would slam a door so forcefully was Anabel so he stood up and walked over to the Ash who had been sleeping soundly on the sofa. He placed a hand on Ash's shoulder and shook the sleeping trainer.

"Ash wake up. I think Anabel's back."

Ash's eyes shot open and he sat up almost clashing heads with Scott.

"What room is she in?"

"She's in room three four eight." Scott replied.

Ash immediately got up and walked to the door, he opened the door and suddenly started feeling very nervous.

"I don't know why but I suddenly feel so anxious about seeing Anabel."

"That's understandable Ash considering what you've just learned and that you've not seen her for seven years. Just go to her and tell her how you feel."

"Okay Scott thanks. Wish me luck."

"Good luck Ash." Scott said.

A confident look appeared on Ash's face and he walked out the door making sure to put his hood up.

"Please bring Anabel back to us." Scott murmured once Ash was out of earshot.

Ash closed the door behind him and walked down the hall, he glanced at every door looking for room three four eight. At the end of the corridor he finally came to the right room, he felt himself getting nervous again so he knocked on the door before his nerves overwhelmed him.

"Anabel are you in there?" Ash asked

Ash waited a few moments but he got no response, he decided to knock on the door a little harder and was rewarded with the sound of an annoyed huff from inside the room. He then heard footsteps approaching the door.

"Who's asking?" Anabel asked in an irritated voice.

"Erm if you don't mind I'd rather say this to your face than say it to a door." Ash replied.

Anabel let out another annoyed huff and opened the door but she did keep the chain lock on just in case he was dangerous. When the door was open, Anabel looked confusedly at the mysterious hooded man stood outside her room, and then she remembered the first match of the day where a hooded man had obliterated his opponent.

"You're that Hayashi guy that everyone is talking about. Why are you here?"

Ash looked down the hall to make sure the coast was clear and listened to hear if anyone was coming, when he certain that there was nobody nearby he lowered his hood. The second the hood fell Anabel gasped and her eyes widened, she knew those eyes and that hair could only belong to one person.

"Ash is it really you?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes Anabel it's me." Ash said with a smile.

* * *

Anabel stood in the doorway looking at the man that had dominated her thoughts for the past seven years. A small smile crept on to her face as tears formed in her eyes, she couldn't believe that after all these years she was finally face to face with him.

"So Anabel can I come in?" Ash asked.

Anabel quickly took the chain lock off and opened the door fully removing the barrier between her and Ash. Moments later Ash walked forward and wrapped his arms tightly around her, that was all it took for Anabel to lose control of her emotions and she began sobbing into his shirt as she let out seven years of misery. She clung on to Ash tightly fearing that if she let go of him he would vanish from her life again. Ash rubbed Anabel's back in an attempt to sooth and clam her down, he gently manoeuvred them inside her room so they could have some privacy. They sat down on the couch and Ash tightened his grip on Anabel hoping that it would help calm her down and prove to her that he was here for her. After ten minutes of crying Anabel's sobs gradually lessened until they became quiet whimpers.

"A-Ash I m-m-missed you s-s-so much." Anabel whimpered.

Ash tilted Anabel's chin up and stared into her lavender eyes seeing, the pain in her eyes broke his heart however there was also hope and love in her gaze which made him hope that there was a chance for them to be together. Ash moved his hand from her chin to her cheek and then wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"I missed you too Anabel. Not a day went by where I didn't think of you."

A combination of Ash's words and his hand on her face made Anabel blush; she rested her head on Ash's shoulder and closed her eyes, feeling incredibly happy that Ash was actually holding her. She tightened her hold on Ash and a small crept on to her face as she felt him tighten his grip on her, she felt safe in his arms and would be more than happy to stay like this for as long as possible.

Anabel's eyes suddenly shot open and she broke out of Ash's embrace when she felt Ash place a hand on the sleeve of her shirt and start to roll it up. She began panicking as she felt the fabric moving up her arm and she quickly stopped Ash from revealing what she had done by placing her hand on his and gripping onto it with a death grip.

Ash released his grip on Anabel's arm and gazed into her terrified eyes, Ash could see the fear and regret in Anabel's eyes, which confirmed that what Scott and Greta had told him was true. He had been hoping that the two of them had been trying to make him feel guiltier for abandoning Anabel but her reaction shattered those hopes.

"Please Anabel I have to see this for myself."

Anabel reluctantly released her hold on his hand and she quickly looked away not wanting to see the disgusted look she knew would be plastered on Ash's face once he sees what she has done to herself. Ash placed his hand back onto Anabel's arm gently and he slowly slid her right sleeve up, his eyes widened as he saw a horrifying series of scars running along her arm. Tears formed in Ash's eyes as he looked at what Anabel had done to herself because of him being so selfish and not going to her after the betrayal.

"This is all my fault." Ash murmured guiltily.

To say Ash's reaction surprised Anabel would be an understatement. She was expecting to hear several comments on how revolted he was by her scars and how weak she was for doing this. As her mind raced at Ash's words, she suddenly felt something dripping onto her right arm. She turned her gaze back to Ash and saw that tears were streaming from his eyes and dripping on to her arm. Anabel placed her hands on his face and made him look at her; there was no disgust in his eyes only guilt, shame and something else that she couldn't quite place. The look in his eyes made her start crying again and they embraced each other, they held each other tightly while they cried for a couple of minutes until they both calmed down. Ash was the first one to pull back and after sliding Anabel's other sleeve up he gently held her arms, which made Anabel, look confusedly at Ash who gave her a small smile.

"Trust me." He whispered.

Anabel nodded and watched as Ash's hands began to glow blue, the glow then transferred from his hands and surrounded her arms. Anabel winced as she felt a little bit of pain but before she knew it the pain had gone and the glow, surrounding her arms had vanished. Anabel was curious about what Ash had done so she looked at her arms and what she saw stunned her. She sat there staring at her once scarred arms, which were now completely smooth as if there had never been a single scar there. She ran her hands along her skin and to her surprise found that it was as smooth as it looked.

"It's not possible." She whispered in disbelief.

"It is possible Anabel due to the power of Aura. You see Anabel Aura truly is an amazing thing; it can use it for several purposes from creating spheres for attacking to healing even the most grievous wound. I have trained for the past seven years with my Lucario who has helped me master my power. Right now, I just used a bit of healing Aura to erase the scars. After all I couldn't let your beautiful skin be marred by scars."

Anabel blushed at the compliment and looked down hoping that Ash wouldn't see her crimson cheeks. Ash smiled at her reaction and felt a rush of confidence so he decided that it was time for him to come clean to Anabel and tell her what he should have said seven years ago. He wrapped his arms around Anabel and pulled her to him, she instinctively returned the embrace and found herself inches away from Ash. She could feel his breath on her lips and her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red.

"Anabel, do you remember the time we spent together after I beat Brandon?" Ash asked.

"O-of course I remember. Those were the most amazing months of my life." Anabel replied happily.

"They were the most amazing months of my life as well, those few months made me happier than anything else I've ever done. The day that I got on that boat to Sinnoh was the worst day of my life, even worse than when those traitors betrayed me. Standing on the deck of the ship and watching you wave at me from the dock while you faded from my sight broke my heart. Once you were out of my sights I felt as if a part of me had been ripped away and I have always felt this void that only you have been able to fill."

Anabel stared into Ash's eyes and hope flooded through her, the look that she couldn't place earlier was blatantly obvious to her now, it was love.

"Anabel I truly am sorry for all the pain I have put you through. A few years ago, I considered coming back and seeing you but I was afraid that you would hate me for being gone for so long so I decided to stay away. To be honest I had been intending to compete in the tournament and then go back into hiding but now that I'm here with you in my arms, I can't imagine my life without you. I love you Anabel with all my heart and soul and I swear that will never change. "

Anabel could feel her heart beating in her chest, she was sure that it was close to bursting out of her chest. She continued to stare into Ash's eyes and couldn't believe that the man she loved felt the same way.

"Ash I love you too." She declared

A tender smile appeared on Ash's face and before Ash could reply to Anabel's declaration, she had pushed her lips against his putting all the love she had for him into it. At first Ash was surprised by Anabel's rather bold move however, he quickly got over his surprise and returned the kiss. Neither of them wanted the kiss to end but the need for air forced them to break apart, they sat in silence while they refilled their lungs with air and they gazed at each other with dark blushes on their faces. When their regained their breath Anabel leaned her head on Ash's shoulder again

"Ash promise me you'll never leave me again. I can't survive without you."

"I promise that I will stay by your side for the rest of our lives. I couldn't live without you by my side, without you everything else is meaningless."

Anabel smiled in content and felt tears forming in her eyes however, for the first time in years they were because of joy not sorrow.

* * *

Ash and Anabel spent the next few hours talking about what had happened in the past seven years. Ash told her about his quest to destroy Team Rocket with him eventually telling her about the true reason his former friends had betrayed him, Anabel hadn't been surprised about Ash being the cause of Team Rocket's downfall as the idea of the police doing anything along the lines of what they claimed is laughable. The revelation of the true natures of his former friends on the other hand had shocked Anabel; she had never sensed any kind of negative emotions from them.

In return, Anabel reluctantly told Ash about every time she had hurt herself, beginning with the first scar she got because of Gary and Max who had challenged her for the Ability Symbol and had constantly bad-mouthed Ash during the matches. Somehow, she managed to compose herself enough to win both matches but afterwards she had gone home and after crying for what felt like hours she cut herself for the first time.

The couple lost track of time completely and it wasn't until Anabel yawned that they noticed how late it had gotten. Ash could see Anabel struggling to stay awake so he picked her up bridal style, which made Anabel blush and he carried her to the bedroom. He gently placed her on bed and pulled the quilt up to cover her; he gave her a quick kiss on her forehead and turned around with the intention of sleeping on the couch. He was stopped from moving by a hand grabbing his arm; he glanced back and saw Anabel sitting up looking at him

"Where are you going?" Anabel asked wearily.

"I was gonna go sleep on the couch." Ash replied.

"Please don't leave me alone." Anabel pleaded.

The desperation in Anabel's voice was blatantly obvious and Ash could not deny her so he took off his cloak and placed it over the door. He climbed into the bed and pulled Anabel to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her. She snuggled into the comforting embrace and quickly fell to sleep in his arms, Ash stayed awake for a couple minutes staring at her peaceful face before joining her in slumber.

* * *

The next morning Ash woke up early as usual. He opened his eyes and looked at Anabel who was still sleeping and smiled when he saw her eyes flicker open. Her gorgeous lilac eyes, which were no longer blank and lifeless like they had been yesterday, instantly memorized him; they were now bright and happy. A relieved look appeared on Anabel's when she saw Ash's eyes and she gently pushed his lips against hers. They broke the tender kiss and stared lovingly at each other.

"Good morning beautiful." Ash murmured.

"I was so scared that last night was a dream."

"Nope last night happened so I'm afraid you're stuck with me." Ash said jokingly.

"I think I can live with that."

"Good because I'm never leaving you again."

The couple smiled at one another and laid there in silence just enjoying being in each other's arms.

"Ash we should probably get up." Anabel said breaking the silence.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Ash replied with a hint of sadness.

She nodded in response, feeling a similar sense of sadness and they broke the hug so they could get out of the bed. Ash was the first one up and he pulled Anabel off the bed, wrapping her in a hug that she eagerly returned. They reluctantly broke the hug after a couple of minutes and took a step away from each other. Ash looked at Anabel and saw that she had a nervous look on her face.

"What's wrong Anabel?" Ash asked worriedly.

"Well I was thinking that maybe you could stay here for the rest of the tournament. If you want too of course, you don't have to feel forced to do so." Anabel murmured.

"I love to stay here with you Anabel, I'll head back to my hotel room to go pick up some stuff that I left there and then I'll meet you outside the Pokémon Centre in an hour." Ash replied.

"I wish I could meet you there Ash but I have to watch the rest of the first round matches today so I'll be in the stadium all day." Anabel said sadly.

"Don't worry about it Anabel, I understand that as a Frontier Brain you have commitments. I'll keep myself occupied for the day and I'll come back here at about five o'clock."

"Okay Ash, I'll see you later."

Anabel turned towards the bathroom to get ready for today but before she could take a step, Ash pulled Anabel to him and gave her a quick kiss making both trainers blush. When the need for air became too great, they reluctantly broke apart, while they regained their breath they stared into each other's eyes lovingly. When they finally regained their breath Anabel went to get prepared for the day while Ash got his cloak and put it on making sure his hood was up, as he still wanted to keep his identity a secret for now. Ash took a quick look in the mirror to make sure that his face was shrouded, once he was sure that he wouldn't be recognised he left the bedroom and walked to the door. He opened the door and saw Scott and the other Brains stood outside presumably here to collect Anabel to take her to the stadium for today's matches.

Ash saw the confused looks that appeared on the majority of the Brains faces and his mind went blank as he tried to think of an explanation for why he was in Anabel's room but he just couldn't come with any ideas.

"Uh. Hi guys." Ash said awkwardly hoping that it would buy him a little more time to think.

The five Frontier Brains who didn't know who Takeo really was looked at the mysterious hooded man and wondered why he was in Anabel's room.

"Hi Takeo. What erm, what are you doing here?" Brandon asked.

Ash knew that there was one thing he could do that would explain everything and that was reveal his identity to them. However, he was stuck debating whether to tell them the truth or not, after a bit of thought he finally decided that he could trust them. To the Frontier Brains surprise, Takeo lowered his hood, revealing his identity, the revelation caused the five Frontier Brains to gasp and their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. The Brains stood in silence for a few minutes as they tried to form a coherent sentence, so many questions and emotions were rushing through them, which was making it impossible for them to choose one specific thing to say first. Scott and Greta pushed past the other Brain's and stood in front of Ash.

"So Ash how's Anabel?" Scott asked.

Ash was about to respond when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him tightly, he shifted his body so that he could return the embrace and keep looking at Scott.

"I'm much better thank you." Anabel replied.

Scott and Greta were amazed at the massive smile on Anabel's face and the brightness in her eyes that had been dull and lifeless for so long. Anabel then looked at her fellow Brains who were still in utter shock at the return of Ash.

"Morning guys, how are you?" She said brightly.

"We're fine thanks." Greta said.

"You have no idea how good it is to finally see you smiling." Scott added.

"Thanks Scott."

Greta then noticed that Anabel was for the first time in about six years wearing a short-sleeved shirt, which shocked her, but what made her eyes widen was that the scars that had littered her arms had vanished; even the long deep one on her left arm was gone. Greta grabbed Anabel's left arm and closely inspected it, she then ran her hand along Anabel's arm thinking that she was using some kind of visual trick to the hide the scars but was amazed to find that her skin was completely smooth exactly how it was seven years ago. She looked up at Anabel in utter disbelief, they had tried so many things to try to remove the scars but nothing had worked so she was desperate to know what had done this.

"Anabel what happened to your arms?" Greta asked.

The other Brains were broken out of their shock by Greta's words and instinctively looked at Anabel's arms. Their eyes widened even further when they saw her scar free arms, everyone looked expectantly at Anabel waiting for an explanation. Anabel looked at Ash wondering if she could tell them what he had done, after all she was not sure whether he wanted his abilities to be common knowledge. Ash saw the look and knew that Anabel wanted to tell them the truth but was leaving the decision up to him; he smiled at Anabel and then formed an orb of Aura in his hand, which he showed to the Frontier Brains.

"I have the ability to manipulate Aura to do many things; one of those is the ability to heal even the most severe of injuries." Ash stated.

The astonished Brains stared at Ash and were still speechless; so many thoughts were rushing through their heads that they were certain their heads would explode. Ash could see that they wouldn't get any intelligent response from the Brains any time soon so he thought that now would be the best time to leave.

"Alright Anabel I'll see you later okay."

Ash gave Anabel a peck on the cheek making her blush and then walked passed the still stunned Brains. He made sure his hood was back up before he went too far and took the elevator to the ground floor; he walked out of the reception area and out the front door. He was immediately forced to shield his eyes as the sun momentarily blinded him, he considered letting Charizard out so he could quickly fly back to his hotel but chose to walk instead since it was such a beautiful day and it would be a shame to waste it.

* * *

Back outside Anabel's room, The Frontier Brains were still stood in silence trying to sort through the information they had just received in the last ten minutes. They weren't sure what had shocked them the most, Ash's reappearance, his ability to use Aura, Anabel genuinely smiling for the first time in seven years or the fact that her scars had been healed by Ash.

While the Brains stood in silence, Scott and Greta looked at Anabel with smiles on their faces. They were overjoyed that Anabel was already much better and they were confident that the old Anabel they knew and loved would be back in the very near future. Both Scott and Greta had both noticed how her shoulders had slumped after Ash left and how the smile that had been on her face had fallen slightly. Scott placed a hand on Anabel's shoulder making the Salon Maiden look up at him and he gave her a small smile.

"Anabel you've got the day off. Go spend time with Ash." Scott commanded.

"Really?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure Anabel. Try going to the Elenion hotel first as that as where he is staying."

"Now go have fun with your boyfriend." Greta added.

Anabel blushed at Greta's comment and quickly made her escape leaving Scott and Greta to explain everything to the other Frontier Brains. She knew that she and Ash would have to talk to them as well at some point but right now, she didn't care, she just wanted to be with Ash.

Anabel exited the hotel and started walking towards the Elenion hoping that she would find Ash, a smile appeared on her face when she spotted Ash in the distance. She considered calling out to him to get attention but she decided against that as a different idea came to mind. She quietly caught up to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly, which slightly startled Ash. He looked back to see who had grabbed him and saw Anabel smiling at him. She loosened her grip on Ash, which allowed him to turn around and pull her into a tight embrace.

"Anabel what are you doing here? I thought you had to go watch the remainder of the first round."

"Scott gave me the day off so I could spend time with you. So what do you want to do?"

"Well my Pokémon are in a clearing to the south so how about we introduce our Pokémon to each other?" Ash suggested.

"Sounds good to me, I'd like to meet the Pokémon who have been with you over the past seven years."

Ash broke the hug with Anabel and shot inside the hotel, a few minutes later he walked out with his bag on his back. Ash pulled Charizard's Pokéball off his belt and sent the dragon out, he asked Charizard if he would take him and Anabel to the other's and the dragon quickly replied with a nod. Charizard then let the couple get on his back and after Anabel wrapped her arms around Ash securely, he shot off at an incredible speed. As they flew, Ash heard a quiet whimper behind him and he felt Anabel's hold on him tighten. He looked back and saw that Anabel had her eyes tightly shut clearly afraid, as she was not used to flying, let alone flying at this speed. Ash told Charizard to slow down which he did until Anabel finally felt comfortable with the speed they were going at.

* * *

After ten minutes of flying, the clearing came into sight, Charizard gently landed in the middle of the area and let Ash and Anabel get off. All of the Pokémon in the clearing approached the duo and most of them looked confusedly at the lilac haired woman with Ash making Anabel feel a little uncomfortable under their scrutiny. She looked at all of the Pokémon in front of her and was unsurprised to see that she recognised very few of them. She knew about Charizard, Meganium, Sceptile, Feraligatr, Donphan, Primeape, Butterfree and Blastoise as Ash had told her stories about them before his disappearance and she had learned about Meowth while Ash had told her how he had attacked the Team Rocket HQ. The rest of them were completely unknown to her and by the confused looks they were giving her, she was completely unknown to them.

"Guys I'd like to introduce you to Anabel and well she's my girlfriend." Ash announced.

Although some of them didn't show it all of Ash's Pokémon were delighted that their trainer could now find the happiness he deserved.

"Ash can I ask how you met your Pokémon?" Anabel asked.

"Well that's up to them." Ash replied looking at his Pokémon

The majority of the Pokémon quickly told Ash that it was fine for him to tell Anabel about how they met. The only exceptions were Gardevoir, Flygon, Rotom and Porygon-Z who were reluctant to reveal their pasts however they trusted Ash so they allowed him to tell Anabel about their past. The Pokémon then left Anabel and Ash going back to what they were doing beforehand. Ash shrugged off his backpack and sat with Anabel in the shade of a tree.

"Hey Ash would it be okay to send out my Pokémon so they can meet yours?"

"That's a great idea Anabel."

Anabel took out her Pokéballs and released the Pokémon revealing A Metagross, an Alakazam, a Mr Mime, a Gallade, an Espeon and Raikou. Alakazam and Mr Mime went and began meditating with Gardevoir. Raikou joined Glaceon, Heliolisk, Porygon-Z, Luxray and Absol in their mock battle. Metagross and Gallade joined Lucario, Primeape, Infernape and Scizor in their melee. Espeon was the only one who didn't join the other Pokémon She instead lied down next to Anabel but was paying more attention to the captivating Glaceon.

"So I'll go through everyone in the order I met them." Ash said.

* * *

Notes

For anyone thinking that Anabel is being extreme in her emotions remember that she has empathic abilities, which I think would intensify her own emotions especially ones like sorrow.

Next chapter will take a while as it has a lot more editing than any other chapter so I hope this will keep you going until then.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like, it really helps me improve.

If you have any questions, I am more than happy to answer them.


	4. Past's Revealed - Part 1

I want to thank those of you who took the time to leave a review I really appreciate it.

I'd like to thank everyone who voted on the poll I put on my profile.

I am going to upload the histories of the Pokémon over a few chapters; this means I can hopefully give you a consistent flow of shorter chapters rather than waiting a long time for one chapter.

Here is chapter 4 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

"_\- Thoughts_

**"- Telepathy/Aura**

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Anabel was interested to learn about the histories of Ash's Pokémon so she gazed at Ash waiting for him to start. Ash stared back at Anabel and started thinking about how he could tell Anabel about how he caught Infernape without mentioning Paul, after a few moments thought he came up with a way to leave Paul out of the story.

"Okay the first Pokémon I captured since we last met is Infernape. I caught him in during my journey in Sinnoh before the incident happened. He was originally owned by another trainer who treated him very poorly, eventually Chimchar was released by the trainer because he thought he was weak."

Ash deliberately avoided saying Paul's name during that explanation as Paul was no longer the person he was when Ash first met him, he had changed a lot since then, he treated his Pokémon with respect and didn't push them too far now. Ash also didn't want Anabel to dislike Paul for his previous mistakes. Ash glanced at Infernape and could see that the monkey was listening to the conversation; there was a time when a look of rage would appear on his face however now he appeared completely calm.

"I could tell from one glance that the trainer was wrong, I knew that Chimchar had a tremendous amount of strength but to utilise it he just need to be trained right. After his previous trainer released him I caught Chimchar and he quickly became one of my strongest Pokémon."

Ash turned his gaze back to Anabel who had been quiet the whole time and saw that she was staring straight at Infernape sadly. He wasn't surprised by her reaction; her empathic abilities had made her more sympathetic towards Pokémon so he knew that some of the backstories would have an effect on her. It made Ash wonder how she would react to hearing the other's stories as some of them had far darker histories.

"Anabel are you okay?" Ash asked worriedly.

Ash's voice snapped Anabel out of her trance and she turned her attention to Ash who was looking at here with a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, it just sickens me that someone would do that to their Pokémon. Please carry on; I want to know how you met the others." Anabel replied.

"Alright then, the next one I met was Luxray…"

* * *

Flashback – Six months after the betrayal

Ash was wandering through a forest in Sinnoh, he wasn't entirely sure where he was and he didn't really care. If he had to guess he would say that he wasn't far from Hearthome since he recognised some of the nearby landmarks but it had been so long since he been to a city that he had no way to be sure. His avoidance of any built up area was no accident, he had been very careful about where he had gone and he had been very thorough when it had come to covering his tracks; the reason for this was that he didn't want to be found by anyone.

"Paul still managed to find me though, although it did take him five months so I guess I've done a good job at hiding my location." Ash muttered.

Ash suddenly heard the sounds of bolts of electricity being fired and pain filled cries, on instinct Ash started charging towards the sounds of battle and pulled the Pokéballs belonging to Charizard and Primeape off his belt. After a few moments, Ash came across a badly injured Luxray being attacked by several Luxio and an older looking Luxray. The wounds were so severe that the young Luxray had collapsed and was being brutally beaten down by the other electric types.

Ash wasted no time and quickly sent out Charizard and Primeape who upon seeing what has happening charged at the Luxio and Luxray and launched a barrage of attacks at them. The electric types knew they were clearly outmatched after being easily overpowered by their opponents so they beat a hasty retreat.

Once the electric types were out of sight Ash made his way over to the young Luxray and was horrified by the injuries the poor electric type had sustained. Ash took his backpack off and rummaged through it until he found his first aid kit, he opened the box and took out his last Super Potion and sprayed Luxray's wounds. The lion winced as his wounds stung for a moment but then the pain started to ebb, he looked up at his saviour and saw a young boy smiling at him.

"Hello, my name's Ash. How are you feeling?"

'Much better thanks to you.'

"So if you don't mind me asking why were those Luxio and that big Luxray attacking you?"

'The Luxray is the Alpha of the pack which I was once a member of, he had a rule that no Luxio was to evolve under and circumstance.'

"Why would he make a rule like that?"

'I guess he didn't want any threats to his status as the Alpha and I tried to obey his law for so long which almost got me killed on several occasions. That changed yesterday when I was ambushed by a Machamp and I had to evolve otherwise he would have killed me. I defeated the Machamp and returned to my pack however when I got there the Alpha immediately told everyone to attack me. I knew that I had no choice but to run if I wanted to live, I had managed to evade them until a few hours ago when they found me and started attacking me.'

"So what are you going to do now?"

Ash felt his heart break for the young Luxray when he saw his eyes fill with sadness.

'I...I don't know. I have no family and no clue where to go.'

"Well you could come with me if you want. I Promise to train you until you are the strongest Luxray in the world. So what do ya say?"

Ash held out his hand to Luxray, the lion stared at Ash's hand for a moment before placing his paw in the boys hand.

'Deal.'

Flashback end

* * *

"How horrible, how could they turn on him just because he evolved to save himself?"

"Sadly that is how Alpha's keep control of their pack. I have asked Luxray if he wanted to go back and confront the Luxray so he can get revenge and re-join his family but he has said that he has no interest in that and that this is now his family."

Anabel looked back at the mock battle Luxray had been in, saw that he and Absol had stopped battling, and were now relaxing in the shade while Raikou was still fighting with Glaceon, Heliolisk and Porygon-Z. A look of confusion passed across her face as she thought of a flaw in what Ash had told her.

"Wait a minute. How did you know what Luxray said? You hadn't accessed your Aura powers by then and you didn't have any Psychic Pokémon with you."

Ash mentally face palmed as he realised what a mistake he'd just made, he knew that he had to give Anabel an explanation but only if the Pokémon was willing for him to do so.

"**Is it alright if I reveal you to Anabel?"**Ash asked.

"**Yes Ash its fine, she's trustworthy and besides the world is going to see us at some point so you might as well tell her now."**Mew replied.

One of the Pokéballs on Ash's necklace suddenly burst open and revealed Mew who immediately landed on Ash's shoulder and nuzzled him. Ash tenderly stroked Mew's head making her purr happily and then he shifted his gaze to Anabel who was staring at him and Mew.

"T-that's a... M-Mew." Anabel stammered in shock.

"Yeah, she's the reason I was able to understand Luxray."

"Well I suppose that makes sense, but now I need to know how and when Mew joined you."

"Okay…."

* * *

Flashback – Two weeks after the betrayal

It had only been two weeks since his former friends and his Pokémon had betrayed Ash. In that time, Ash had been trying to figure out why they had turned on him just because he had lost to Tobias who was using legendary Pokémon. A tear fell from his eye and trickled down his cheek as his former friends and Pokémon appeared in front of him.

"You're pathetic Ash." Misty snarled.

"It's embarrassing to even be associated with you." Gary added.

Ash fell to his knees and burst into tears as his former friends berated him, even though he knew that they were not real it reminded him of what the real versions of them had said. As the barrage of insults continued, Ash buried his face in his hands and sobbed heavily.

"Shut up, please shut up." Ash whimpered.

"**Ash is that you?"**

Ash took his head out of his hands and looked up through tear-filled eyes seeing a Mew levitating in front of him.

"**It is you. I've been searching for you for the past two weeks."**

"Why? Why would you put so much effort into finding me? I'm weak, pathetic and a disappointment to everyone who believed me."

Mew landed on Ash's shoulder and nuzzled him lovingly.

"**You are none of those things Ash; you are brave, strong, loving and determined. I have been looking for you because I know what happened and I want to stay with you and show you that you are not what ****they**** said you were."**

Ash pulled Mew off his shoulder and hugged her tightly as his tears dampened her fur; Mew didn't fight Ash's hold on her and simply nuzzled him hoping it would help calm him down.

"**It's okay Ash, I'm here and I will never leave you. I promise."**

"_And I swear that I will make those scumbags pay for hurting you."_ Mew thought.

Several minutes passed before Ash finally stopped crying, he wiped his arm across his eyes to dry them and gave Mew the first genuine smile he had managed for over two weeks.

"Thank you Mew."

Mew smiled back at him and then used Psychic to levitate a Pokéball out of Ash's bag and in front of them; she looked at the ball wondering how the thing worked.

"**So how exactly does this work? Do I just touch this and it catches me?"**

"I don't have to capture you; you can just stay with me."

"**I'd rather you capture me even if I never stay in the thing."**

"Why?"

"**A thing called a Master Ball is becoming very common now and from what I've heard it's impossible to break free from them. So I want you to capture me because I don't want someone to take me away from you."**

"What about the Tree of Beginning? I thought you had to protect that."

"**My cousin has taken over that duty. I've been protecting the tree for a long time so it was finally time for someone else to take responsibility for it."**

"Alright then just tap the centre of the Pokéball and it will capture you. I'll let you back out as soon as you're captured."

Mew did as Ash said and nudged the centre of the Pokéball with her nose, she was sucked inside of the ball and a ding indicated that she had been captured. Ash let Mew out immediately and was about to place the Pokéball in bag but then he had another idea. He opened his bag and took out a necklace that had several rings in it that were just large enough to put a Pokéball in, it was something he'd been working on before the Sinnoh League but he had stopped when the tournament began. At first, he had intended to have six rings on it to carry his party and have them close to his heart but due to him not finishing it there was only three rings. Ash clipped Mew's Pokéball in the centre ring and put the necklace on.

"Now you'll always be close to my heart."

The Legendary felt tears forming in her eyes so she landed on Ash's shoulder and nuzzled him.

"**You'll always be close to my heart too."**

Ash gave Mew a small smile before his eyes darkened and his face fell, he then started walking down the path he had been following. Mew sat on Ash's shoulder and worried for the young boy, she knew that the betrayal had hit him hard; she just hoped that with her help he could get past it.

Flashback end

* * *

"From that day on Mew gave me the ability to understand my Pokémon, well until I learned to utilise my Aura."

Anabel looked at Mew gratefully; she knew after what Ash had told her last night that the weeks after the betrayal had been terrible for Ash and was glad that there had been Pokémon like Mew who had supported Ash during his darkest days.

"_Thank you Mew."_ Anabel thought hoping that the Psychic type was listening.

"**Your welcome."** Mew replied.

Anabel smiled at the Legendary and then turned her attention back to Ash who was still stroking Mew's head.

"So who was next?" Anabel asked.

"Well Absol was my next capture…"

* * *

Flashback - 9 months after the betrayal

Ash was walking into the reception area of a Pokémon Centre; he had only visited so he could buy some supplies to replenish his rapidly declining medicine count. After buying what he needed Ash was about to leave when he saw a mob of people storm out of the Pokémon Centre. He was not sure what could have caused the group to form so he walked over to the main desk to ask Nurse Joy what was going on.

"Hey why did that big mob just charge out of here?" Ash asked.

"The village has been plagued by a series of disasters which come shortly after we are visited by an Absol. The villagers believe that the Absol is causing all of these disasters so they are going to go and… deal with it." Nurse Joy said sadly.

"WHAT!" Ash yelled in horror.

"I tried convincing them that it's not Absol's fault, she's trying to warn them of impending danger not causing it. Unfortunately they didn't believe me so they've now gone off to do what they think is best for the village."

"I won't let this happen; they will not hurt an innocent Pokémon."

Ash then charged out of the building before Nurse Joy could respond to his final comment. Once outside a crowd of people who judging by the signs they were waving were cheering for the group who had gone to attack Absol blocked the path. Ash pushed his way through the crowd ignoring the curses from the people he knocked over, after a few minutes; he finally got out of the crowd and started sprinting down the road hoping that he would catch up before Absol got hurt.

Ten minutes later Ash caught sight of the group that had stormed out of the Pokémon Centre, as he got closer he could hear attacks being called out and started to see blast of fire, water and electricity shooting off in every direction. Ash immediately took Sceptile, Luxray and Wartortle's Pokéballs off his belt and sent them out, the trio saw the horde of Pokémon attacking the Absol and waded into battle.

It only took a few minutes for Sceptile, Luxray and Wartortle to deal with the villagers' Pokémon; it had not been a tough fight due to the difference in strength, which proved that their intense training had paid off. The villagers returned their Pokémon and glared at Ash and his Pokémon who were all standing defensively in front of Absol. The dark type was looking at her saviours in shock, all she had ever experienced with humans was them chasing her away and attacking her. She poked her head out from behind the boy but quickly returned to hiding when one of the villagers stepped forward and sent her a terrifying glare.

"Why are defending that demon?" one of the villagers asked.

"I am defending this Absol because it has done nothing wrong. The only thing it is guilty of is trying to save the lives of idiots like you."

The village who had spoken up growled angrily at Ash's response and took a step towards him however he stopped when Sceptile momentarily vanished and then appeared in front of the villager pointing his glowing green blade at his neck. The villager fell to the floor and was frozen in fear as the Sceptile's piercing gaze paralysed him.

"I suggest you leave before my Pokémon lose their tempers."

The villagers didn't need to be told twice and they fled as quickly as they could, Ash watched the villagers running for lives with a smile on his face until they faded sight. Ash suddenly felt something brushing against his side; he shifted his gaze downwards and saw Absol nuzzling him.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked.

'I am thanks to you and your Pokémon.' Absol said gratefully.

"I'm just glad we got here in time, I recommend you stay away from villages like that one. There are some people who are just too ignorant to know that you are trying to help them."

'I know you are right it is just hard not warn people when I sense the disasters coming.' Absol replied sadly.

Ash saw the downtrodden look on Absol's face so he crouched down and hugged her which surprised Absol but she quickly relaxed in Ash's embrace and continued to nuzzle him.

"Listen Absol how would you like to come with me? You could become part of our family; you'd never have to worry about being alone or being attacked with support again."

The dark type nodded in response so Ash opened one of the pockets in his trench coat and pulled out a Pokéball. He presented it to Absol and she immediately nudged the centre of the ball, after a few seconds a ding was heard which signified that Absol had been caught.

Flashback over

* * *

Ash finished the story and looked at Absol who was now nuzzling Luxray; a smile crept on to his face as he watched the two of them. He then turned his attention back to Anabel who was watching the pair with a curious expression.

"I've noticed those two are rather close, are they...?" She trailed off.

"Yes they are mates. They got together a couple of months after she joined the family and please don't ask how I found out because trust me you really don't want to know." Ash said as he shuddered at the memory.

"Alright let's move on to the next Pokémon instead." Anabel replied.

"Okay well the next Pokémon that joined me was Lucario…"

* * *

Flashback – 12 months after the betrayal

It had been a year to the day since Ash's friends and Pokémon had betrayed him; he used to feel overwhelming sorrow when he thought of them all but now all he felt was intense rage. Recently that rage had started to bring out his hidden potential although he had no way of controlling it so there had been times when his rage had devastated areas. He tried to stop himself from thinking about them but today he was plagued by visions of them.

Ash stood in a clearing they had been training in the day before and a blue Aura radiated from him, which scorched the ground surrounding him. He let out an angered roar and an orb of Aura formed in his palm, he then launched the orb with all his strength straight ahead. The minute the orb left his hand Ash's rage was quelled and he watched in horror as the orb rocketed towards some wild Pokémon.

"Run! There's an attack headed your way!" Ash yelled at the Pokémon.

The Pokémon heard Ash's yells and turned to face him when they saw the orb headed there way, they tried to move but were frozen in place due to their fear. Suddenly a blue blur shot out of nowhere and deflected the orb away from the Pokémon and straight into the air. The wild Pokémon immediately fled away from the area leaving only Ash and the small blue Pokémon who were staring at each other. After a few moments, Ash walked over to the Riolu and crouched down in front of it.

"Thank you so much for saving those Pokémon."

"**It's no problem Ash."**

"How do you know my name?"

"**This isn't the first time we've met."**

"Now I remember you're the Riolu I met that could use Aura Sphere."

"**Yep that's me."**

"What are you doing here?"

"**Well I have been searching for you for several months."**

"Why?"

"**Over the past few months I have been sensing that your Aura has been rising to dangerous levels. I want to join you to help you control your Aura and to make me a stronger Pokémon."**

"I'd be more than happy to have you join the family."

Riolu leapt at Ash and hugged him; Ash returned the embrace until the Aura Pokémon jumped back to the ground.

"**Thank you Ash, I promise you that I'll help you become the most powerful Aura Guardian since Sir Aaron."**

"And I promise that you'll become the most powerful Lucario ever."

The pair shook hands and then Riolu leapt on to Ash's shoulder, Ash smiled at the Aura Pokémon and then started walking out of the clearing towards his next destination.

Flashback end

* * *

Anabel watched Ash carefully as he finished the story; she could see that out of all of the stories this one had bothered him the most. Ash sighed and formed an orb of Aura in his hand; he stared at it for a moment and then dissolved it.

"I was dangerous back then, maybe I still am, and maybe I'm even more dangerous now that I know how to control my powers."

"You're not dangerous Ash; you use your powers to protect what's right and stop the forces of evil. That doesn't make you dangerous it makes you heroic."

Ash turned his gaze to Anabel and grinned.

"Thank you Anabel."

"Your welcome Ash, so who did you meet next?"

"Well my next capture didn't happen until I went to Hoenn which was around six months after Riolu joined me…"

* * *

Notes

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Next chapter will be the all the captures up to Ash defeating Giovanni.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like, it really helps me improve.

If you have any questions, I am more than happy to answer them.


	5. Past's Revealed - Part 2

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments.

If any of the readers of the original version of this story have questions about future events please PM them to me. If you leave them in reviews, you could spoil the story for new readers.

I am sorry for the delay but I have had a lot on my mind recently and it has taken some time to deal with it. That is sort of, why this is a short chapter, I wanted to get something up for you guys to read.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 5, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Flashback – 15 months after the betrayal

It had been three months since Ash had decided to leave Sinnoh and head to Hoenn to start his quest to take down Team Rocket. He had at first thought about starting his hunt in Kanto but quickly decided against that, as he knew that Team Rocket's most powerful forces would be in Kanto and he was certain that he was not ready to take on their strongest forces. Hoenn on the other hand was not flooded with Team Rocket like Kanto although if something wasn't done soon that would quickly change.

Ash was walking away from the Team Rocket lab he had infiltrated and after taking out a few grunts, he had succeeded in taking the base down. Suddenly several loud explosions boomed from the west, Ash was immediately concerned about what could have caused the explosion so he went to investigate. After a few minutes, Ash came to a clearing and saw Hunter J attacking a Flygon with her Salamence, Drapion and Ariados. He then spotted two motionless bodies behind the Flygon, the first was another Flygon and the second was a small Trapinch.

The Flygon crashed to the ground after being hit by Salamence's Dragon Claw, Flygon quickly got back up just in time for a Cross Poison to hit him sending him crashing into the tree behind him. Flygon slumped to the ground feeling exhausted, he cracked an eye open and saw Ariados fire a Sticky Web at him. The webbing wrapped around Flygon and stuck him to the tree, Flygon tried to break out of the web but he was unable to get free.

Hunter J saw that Flygon was trapped so she walked over to him and crouched down so she was at eye level with the dragon. Flygon met Hunter J's gaze and growled angrily while he glared at his captor.

"You put up a much better fight than I expected, it's a shame the other two were so weak but I know you'll fetch a pretty penny when I take you to a buyer."

Ash decided that now was the best time to make his appearance so he stepped into sigh.

"You're not taking that Flygon anywhere." Ash declared.

Everyone turned so they were facing the person who had spoken, Hunter J and her Pokémon smirked at the figure while Flygon watched in confusion wondering why this hooded figure was helping him.

"This is none of your business; I recommend that you get out of here before you get hurt."

"You don't frighten me J. Everyone come on out."

Ash threw the Pokéballs he was holding into the air, the Pokéballs burst open moments later and in a flash of light, all of Ash's Pokémon were standing in front of him. The Pokémon glared angrily at Hunter J and her Pokémon, Hunter J knew that she was outmatched so she pulled out one of her smoke bombs and threw it at the ground causing it to explode and shroud the area in smoke. Everyone coughed violently due to the smoke, they then heard an evil cackle above them, they looked up and saw Hunter J standing on Salamence's back.

"Get back here!" Ash yelled.

"I don't think so boy. You'd better watch your back boy, next time we meet the outcome shall be different." Hunter J replied.

Hunter J then sat down and Salamence shot off, Ash considered chasing after her but decided against it when he saw the damage Flygon had sustained. He walked over to the dragon and yanked at the webs but couldn't break them.

"Charizard can you burn those webs please."

Charizard nodded and fired a weak Flamethrower at the webs, which disintegrated them. As soon as Flygon was free he tried to fly away but a sharp pain in his right wing grounded him, he then started to walk in the direction Hunter J had flew away until he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Flygon looked back and glared at Ash.

'Let go of me.' Flygon growled.

"Wait Flygon, you're in no condition to chase after J."

'You expect me to just let that bitch get away after she murdered my family?!'

"No I don't expect that, but with your injuries you would just throw your life away. If you just stay here for a day or so we can heal you up and then we can chase after Hunter J."

'You're going to help me? Why?'

"Because I can't let her get away with killing innocent Pokémon."

Flygon looked into Ash's eyes and could see the honesty in the boy's eyes; he thought about his options for a moment and then nodded.

'Alright, I'll stay but only for a day. After that I'm going with or without you."

"That's fair enough, right let's start fixing you up."

Flygon nodded again and took a laid down giving Ash a perfect view of his multiple injuries. Ash immediately got to work on healing the dragon's injuries so that they would be ready to chase after Hunter J as soon as possible.

Flashback over

* * *

"What happened after that?" Anabel asked.

"The next day we left to track her down and we found her a couple of weeks later. She tried to escape again but we stopped her and took her to the police station where Officer Jenny arrested her. After that Flygon asked to join us so he could repay us for helping him."

Anabel looked sadly at Flygon who sensed her gaze and turned towards her, he gave Anabel a sad smile before turning his attention back to Gardevoir. Anabel tore her gaze away from Flygon and looked at Ash.

"Shall we move on to the next Pokémon?" Ash asked.

"Yeah so who joined you next?" Anabel replied.

"Gardevoir was the next one to join me…"

* * *

Flashback – 17 months after the betrayal

Ash was heading towards the next Team Rocket base he had discovered, it was the last one he knew of in Hoenn so he was determined to destroy it and then move on to the next region. He had decided that he would head to Sinnoh next, then Unova and Kalos. He was leaving Johto and Kanto for last since he knew that they were the two regions that had the strongest Team Rocket forces.

Ash was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the faint sound of crying coming from the forest to his right, he couldn't ignore that so he started weaving his way through the trees. As Ash got deeper into the forest the crying got louder, he eventually came to a clearing that looked like a war had happened there. Trees had been broken, boulder turned into rubbed and there was blood splattered everywhere.

Ash's eyes then fell upon two motionless bodies with a smaller one kneeling next to them crying. Ash approached the bodies and saw that it was a Ralts crying over the bodies of a Gardevoir and a Gallade. He felt his heart sink for the young Ralts; he instantly knew who would be best suited to console the orphaned Ralts.

"Flygon come on out."

The dragon appeared in front of Ash and looked at his trainer in bemusement, he was about to question Ash about why he had been sent out when he heard crying behind him. Flygon turned around and saw the little Ralts crying next to a Gardevoir and a Gallade. He immediately knew why Ash had called upon him; he landed next to the Ralts and picked her up. The young psychic Pokémon looked up at Flygon through tear-filled eyes.

'Don't worry little one, I'll take care of you and I promise that the ones who did this will pay.' Flygon whispered.

Ralts simply buried her head into Flygon's chest and sobbed while the dragon just held the young Pokémon tighter to him.

Flashback over

* * *

"That's horrible, seeing her parents killed in front of her must have haunted her."

"Yes it did, she had nightmares of the pack of Mightyena that attacked her parents for a long time and had it not been for Flygon she wouldn't be who she is today. Those two are inseparable now, Gardevoir sees Flygon as a father and he sees her as his daughter."

"Well I'm glad that she has gotten through her troubles and that she and Flygon are so close."

Ash and Anabel turned their sights to Gardevoir who was chatting with Flygon with smiles on their faces. Anabel could feel the joy radiating from the two and could tell that those two shared an incredible bond. Anabel then turned her sight back to Ash who was staring at lovingly.

"So who was the next Pokémon to join you?"

"Rotom and Porygon-Z were the next Pokémon I caught before defeating Giovanni…"

* * *

Flashback – 2 years after the betrayal

Ash raised a hand in front of his face to block the intense sandstorm that was plaguing the deserts of Kalos. Although he was glad that he'd come to Kalos to cut off Team Rocket's attempt to gain a stranglehold on the region he was getting increasingly pissed off due to where Team Rocket had decided to make their base.

"Why the fuck did Team Rocket have to set up their only base in Kalos in the fucking desert." Ash yelled.

Ash sighed and just pushed on through the sandstorm. Eventually the base he was looking for cam into sight, Ash quickly found a rock to hide behind to avoid being seen by the grunt who was patrolling the front entrance.

"There must be another way in." Ash murmured.

He waited for the grunt to pass by again before quickly moving to the left side of the base. He scanned the exterior of the base until he spotted a small vent.

"That's my way in. Wartortle and Croconaw come on out."

The water Pokémon burst out of their Pokéballs and stared at Ash.

"Hey guys can you bust through this vent and see if there is a secret entrance you can open for me?"

'Sure Ash.' Wartortle replied.

Croconaw and Wartortle nodded at one another and then turned their attention to the vent. Their tails turned metallic and they swung them at the vent, destroying it and opening their way into the base. They rushed into the opening leaving Ash outside to wait for them.

A few minutes later Ash heard a hissing noise coming from the wall to the left of where he stood. He shifted around the corner to avoid detection; he glanced around the corner to see who or what had made the noise and saw a panel slide open. Moments later Croconaw and Wartortle walked out of the door with triumphant smirks on their faces. Ash walked back around the corner and approached Wartortle and Croconaw.

"Nice job you guys."

Both Pokémon nodded and gave Ash thumbs up, they then followed Ash as he walked into the base. The first thing Ash noticed was a pair of grunts as well as a pair of Golbat's that had were frozen to the wall. He looked down at Wartortle and Croconaw and saw that they were grinning proudly.

"I see you two had fun while I waited outside in the sandstorm. We'd better get moving before someone starts to wonder where these two are."

The water Pokémon nodded and then leapt on to Ash's shoulders, they held onto their trainer tightly as he started sneaking through the base making sure to avoid any cameras. While he stealthily moved through the base, Ash glanced into the various rooms he passed checking to see if there was anyone inside but to his surprise, every single room had been empty. As he got closer to the centre of the base he finally found a room with a trio of scientists tapping away on a few computers, one of which was linked up to a glass container.

"Okay you guys take out the two furthest away from us with Aqua Jet and I'll deal with the one near that glass container." Ash whispered.

Wartortle and Croconaw nodded and jumped off Ash's shoulders, water immediately surrounded them and they shot towards their targets. Moments later, they slammed into the scientists sending both of them crashing into the wall; the noise gained the attention of the final scientists who turned around and saw his two comrades slumped against the wall unconscious. He was about to yell for help but was stopped by Ash landing a punch to his gut, the scientist fell to his knees and lost consciousness as well.

"Well that was easy. Come on guys let's go before someone finds us." Ash said.

'Wait Ash there's a Pokéball in that container.' Wartortle stated.

Ash walked over to the glass container and formed an orb of Aura in his hand; he launched the orb at the container, which shattered it. Ash carefully picked up the Pokéball, which immediately burst open revealing a Rotom, which was uncontrollably changing through its various forms, which Ash knew, should be impossible. He tried to approach the Rotom but it quickly flew away from Ash and sparks shooting off him.

'Stay back!' Rotom yelled.

"I'm not going to hurt you Rotom. What did Team Rocket do to you?" Ash asked.

'They have done experiments on me; they wanted to make me be able to change to my various forms at will. As you can see they were partially successful, I can change forms but I have no control over it.'

"Well how about you come with me and I'll help you master this ability."

'How can I trust you?'

"You're just going to have to believe that I want to help you. Surely the three unconscious Team Rocket Scientists in this room prove that I am no friend of Team Rocket."

Rotom looked around at his unconscious tormentors and after a moments thought he nodded.

'Okay, I'll go with you.'

"Great, I need you to go back into the Pokéball until I finish dealing with this base."

Rotom once again nodded and allowed himself to be returned to the Pokéball, Ash placed Rotom's Pokéball in one of his spare pockets and then turned to Wartortle and Croconaw who had finished tying up the trio of scientists. Both of the water types climb onto Ash's shoulders and he walks out of the room, carefully walking down the hallways making sure to stick to the shadows. They passed a few patrols of grunts and finally came to the main office; Ash quietly stepped into the room, which was to Ash's surprise empty.

"Be careful guys, there's no telling what security Team Rocket may have in place."

Croconaw and Wartortle nodded and then stood either side of the doorframe just in case anyone came into the room. Ash took a seat at the desk and turned on the pc sitting on it, he was hoping that the data was as easy to access as it was in the last base. He tapped away on the keys but despite his best efforts, he couldn't break through the safeguards.

"Dammit, this data has an insane amount of encryption, far more than I'm capable of decoding. Guess we're just going to have to destroy this entire room."

Ash stood up and walked around the desk towards the machine the pc was connected to, he was about to fire an Aura Sphere at it when he saw a button saying open hatch. Ash's curiosity got the better of him and he pressed the button, two panels at the front of the machine separated revealing a sight which Ash's eyes widen in shock. Before him was a Porygon-Z, which had several cables that attached to it many of the cables, looked very painful. Ash couldn't leave the Porygon-Z like this so he reached inside and stared gently removing the cables, each time he removed one he was shocked but he grit his teeth and ignored the pain. Eventually he removed the last wire and he pulled the unconscious Pokémon out of the machine, he cradled it in his arms and looked sadly at it.

"What kind of sick fuckers would do this?" Ash murmured.

"Warning there has been a security breach, to protect all information this base will self-destruct in two minutes." A robotic voice announced.

"Oh shit we need to get the hell out of here, Kirlia come on out."

Kirlia appeared in front of Ash, looked around curiously wondering why there were red lights flashing, and alarm sounds booming.

'Hello Ash, do you need my help?'

"Yes I do can you Teleport us back to the cabin please?"

Kirlia nodded and grabbed Ash's hand; she then closed her eyes and focused on the cabin. Seconds later they vanished from the base and appeared at the cabin they had stayed in the night before, Ash immediately stormed into the cabin and placed the Porygon-Z on the bed so he could start healing his injuries.

Flashback over

* * *

"When Porygon-Z woke up and saw me he panicked, he only calmed down once I left the room. It took a week for Porygon-Z to let me get close to him due to his bad treatment at the hands of Team Rocket. I gave him the choice of being free or coming with me and I was overjoyed when he chose the latter."

"Was there any permanent damage?" Anabel whispered not wanting Porygon-Z to overhear them.

"Not physically, he still has a very big trust issue with humans though. I am the only human he fully trusts however, there are a few people he is beginning to trust. So don't be offended if at first he keeps his distance." He replied.

"It's okay I completely understand. What about Rotom, does he have a problem with humans?"

"At first he did but after a while Rotom accepted that not all humans were like Team Rocket. He was only with Team Rocket for a couple of months whereas Porygon-Z had been trapped in there for years which is why Rotom recovered from the time with Team Rocket."

There was a slight pause as they both thought of the horrid experiences the two Pokémon had suffered at the hands of Team Rocket. Anabel looked at the pair of Pokémon and wondered whether Ash had helped Rotom control his powers.

"Hey has Rotom managed to master his various forms or can he only stay in one form like he is now?" Anabel asked.

"Yes he can change form whenever he wants however every time he changes form it drains some energy from him so he can't change frequently."

"That makes sense, so was that your last capture before you took down Team Rocket?"

"Well actually there was one more but she's not here right now, Charizard left just after I started telling you everyone's backstories to go pick up her and three of my other Pokémon."

"How long until they get here?"

Suddenly Charizard landed in front of them and a quartet of Pokémon leapt off the dragon and stood in front of Ash and Anabel.

"Right about now."

Anabel playfully swatted Ash and then looked at the four new Pokémon; the first was a Gengar, which Anabel assumed, was Ash's old Haunter. The second was a Froslass who had Gengar's arms wrapped around her, Anabel smiled at the scene as she could sense the love between the two of them. The third one was a Cinccino who was snuggling its scarf like fur while she looked at Ash. Anabel then turned her attention to the final Pokémon, as soon as she realised what it was Anabel's eyes widened in shock.

"Hey did you four have fun?" Ash asked not noticing Anabel's shocked expression.

'Me and Froslass certainly did.' Gengar said with a mischievous grin.

A bright red blush appeared on Froslass' cheeks, she knew that Gengar had only said that to garner such a reaction and she knew the perfect way to get back at him.

'Well after that comment I don't think we're going to be having any fun for a long time.' Froslass declared.

A triumphant grin found its way onto Froslass' face, she then floated away from Gengar leaving him stunned, Ash and the two remaining Pokémon laughed at the expression on Gengar's face. Their laughter turned hysterical when they saw the ghost type quickly chase after Froslass and start apologising repeatedly. The trio quickly calmed down and Ash looked at Cinccino.

"So Cinccino did you enjoy your trip back to Unova?"

'Yep I did, by the way Professor Juniper sends her regards and hopes that you'll visit Unova sometime in the future.'

"I intend to, there are a few things I would like to discuss with her. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

Cinccino nodded and then ran over to the tree that Meowth was resting under; she sat down next to him and cuddled up to him. Meowth responded by wrapping an arm around Cinccino and pulling her close to him. Ash smiled at the scene and turned his attention to the final Pokémon that had arrived.

"What about you?"

'Yes I enjoyed seeing my family again.'

"Good, how are they by the way?"

'They're thriving now thanks to you and the others.'

"We were happy to help them."

Ash picked up the Pokémon and hugged her tightly, the Pokémon sighed happily and then turned her gaze to the girl sat next to Ash and was confused by the strange way the girl was staring at her.

'Hey Ash what is wrong with your friend?'

Ash turned his gaze from the Pokémon in his arms to Anabel and saw that she was staring at the two of them with a shocked expression on her face.

"What's wrong Anabel?"

"That Pokémon, is that what I think it is?"

"Yes Anabel she is."

"But she's a…"

* * *

Notes

Oh, did I just leave you with a cliffhanger after so many months away? I am so evil.

So who is the mystery Pokémon and why is Anabel so shocked?

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like, it really helps me improve.

If you have any questions, I am more than happy to answer them.


	6. Merry Christmas

Hey everyone, Merry Christmas to every single one of you.

I'm sorry for my long absence, work, scouts &amp; Youtube has taken up a lot of my time (Special thanks to Eliphas-Chaos who actually checked out my YouTube channel – I honestly didn't expect any of my readers to do that so I really wanted to thank Eliphas for doing that.) I do intend to finish the next chapter of the Return of the Betrayed Guardian in the New Year and after that I'm not sure what story I will look to update next.

I really appreciate all the support you have given me since I started writing, some of you have been with me from my very first chapter and i really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking by me and supporting me. You guys are in my opinion the best group of readers anyone could ask for on this site, you are all very patient and very supportive.

Thank you all once again, I hope you've had an awesome Christmas and I'll see you in the New Year.

Knight of Kanto


	7. Past's Revealed - Part 3

Alright guys I think I owe you all a big apology, I made a promise in my Christmas update and I failed to deliver. A lot of things have happened over the last six months however; I should have at least given you an update on what was taking so long so I truly am sorry. Now due to me losing all the files earlier this year (sometimes I hate my laptop), the backstories I wrote for Ash's Pokémon are gone so I have decided to write a detailed version of the surprise Pokémon's backstory. The rest of the Pokémon will have brief explanations. Some point down the line I do intend to write all the backstories fully however right now I just want to get on with the main story.

There is one thing I want to ask anyone who read the original version of this story and that is what should I do with Brock? Should he be like he was in the original or should I change his personality? Please tell me in a PM so we don't spoil it for anyone else.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 6, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

"It's a Pikachu, but I… I thought after what your old Pikachu did you would never get another one." Anabel said in shock.

"Well to be honest I thought the exact same before I met Chu here but she changed my mind."

"So how did the two of you meet?"

"Well it happened a few weeks before I attacked the main Team Rocket base…"

* * *

Ash was investigating the woodlands near Team Rocket's headquarters to make sure there were no other forces in the area that could assist the headquarters when he launches his attack. He came to a stop in a clearing and felt a sense of déjà vu. He looked around the area trying to figure why this place seemed so familiar but he just couldn't figure out why.

"I don't know why but this area seems familiar, what do you think Meowth?"

"I know what you mean, I think we've been here before but I don't know when or why."

Suddenly a bush nearby rustled, Ash and Meowth readied an attack just in case whatever was in the bush proved to be hostile. They immediately dissipated the attacks when they saw a small yellow mouse jump out of the bush.

"It's just a Pikachu, wait a minute I remember now this is where all those Pikachu lived."

"Oh when you were on your first journey."

"Yeah, I haven't thought about this place for a long time."

While Ash and Meowth had been talking neither of them noticed the little Pikachu scamper up to them. Ash felt a tug on his trousers, he looked down and saw the little Pikachu hugging his leg and staring up at him cutely.

"I remember you." The Pikachu finally said.

"You do?"

"Yes, you're the boy who came here a long time ago when I was just a little Pichu. My name's Chu what's yours?"

"I'm Ash, nice to meet you Chu."

"Hey I thought you had a Pikachu that decided to leave with you rather than stay with us. Where is he?"

A scowl quickly appeared on Ash's face as memories of his once best friend came to mind, Chu wondered why Ash had suddenly gotten so angry but before she could ask the sound of several Pikachu screaming pierced the tranquillity. She immediately looked back towards her home and knew that her family was in trouble.

"That was my family, they must be in danger."

Chu immediately used Agility to sprint back through the bushes towards here family, Ash and Meowth quickly followed determined to help Chu's family against whatever had caused them to let out those screams. A few moments later they caught with Chu and saw a giant robot which was holding a cage filled with Raichu, Pikachu and a few Pichu.

"Hey let those Pokémon go!"

"I don't think so, what I have here is a very cheap and efficient power source."

"You sick bastard."

"Am I that sick though? Many buildings already use Pokémon to power them, how am I any different to the owners of those buildings?"

"There's a very big difference between you and them, people treat Pokémon with respect and we don't force them to do these things. You on the other hand will treat them as slaves, forcing them to work all day with no rest. People like you a perfect example of why I need to destroy Team Rocket."

The agent started laughing hysterically at the thought of one man taking down an organisation as powerful as Team Rocket. His laughter quickly died down though when he saw the man, Pikachu and Meowth preparing to attack.

"I wouldn't come any closer or launch any kind of attack if I were you. While these little rats would be invaluable in powering our base I'll be more than happy to eliminate them all if needs be."

To prove his point, the agent pressed a button which caused the cage to shrink in size, Ash growled angrily as he saw the terrified looks on the family's faces. An idea suddenly popped into Ash's head and he opened an Aura link with his faithful ghost type.

_"Gengar when you come out phase underneath the ground so you're not seen then go behind the robot and get into the cockpit. I'll let you decide what happens next."_

_'You got it Ash.'_

Ash discreetly released Gengar from his Pokéball and the ghost did as Ash asked and phased into the ground below him making sure that he wasn't spotted by whoever was piloting the robot. He reappeared behind the robot and levitated up until he was directly behind the cockpit. He phased through the exterior and saw a Team Rocket agent cackling maniacally while controlling the machine.

The agent stopped cackling when he felt a chilling presence behind him, he turned around and came face to face with a seriously pissed off Gengar.

'Release them or I will send you straight to Giratina.'

The agent was frozen in fear, although he couldn't understand the ghost it was pretty obvious what it wanted. The agent looked down at the orb that was mere inches away from his stomach and could feel the power radiating it. He looked into the ghost's eyes hoping to see a flicker of weakness or something that would tell him that the ghost wouldn't actually carry out with his threat. However, all the agent saw was anger and hate that was being directed at him. He quickly pressed a few buttons and the cage that was holding the family was placed on the ground and opened releasing the family who swarmed around Ash, Meowth and Chu.

In the cockpit the agent was still looking at Gengar, he could still feel the orb pulsing below him and was scared of what the ghost had planned for him.

"Ok I've let them go, so what happens now?" he asked fearfully.

Gengar smirked at the agent making him cower in fear but he quickly got over the fear as Gengar simply phased through the front of the machine and landed on the ground. The agent let out a sigh of relief believing that he was safe, that belief was shattered moments later as Gengar spun around and launched the Shadow Ball he had straight towards him. He tried in vain to escape the machine however the Shadow Ball was too fast and it blew a hole straight through the robot's main power core making it explode and launch the agent high in the sky

'Why did you blast that evil man away? What if he comes back?' Chu yelled at Gengar

Gengar turned to face the little Pikachu and smirked which only angered her more, Ash decided now was a good time to intervene before the situation escalated.

"Don't worry little one, Gengar knew what he was doing. That Shadow Ball has ensured that he won't be coming back any time soon. That blast should make him land next to an Officer Jenny right about, now."

Chu looked down guiltily as she instantly regretted yelling at the ghost who had help save her family.

'I apologise Gengar.'

"Forget about it, you have no idea what we are capable of so you had no way of knowing what I had planned."

A smile crept back on to Chu's face, she looked at Ash gratefully knowing that she would never be able to fully repay him for what he had done for her family.

'Thank you for helping save my family Ash.'

"It's no problem Chu, I couldn't stand by and do nothing while Team Rocket captured them all. Besides Gengar did most of the work."

The ghost type nervously rubbed the back of his neck as all the younger family members looked at him adorably. Without a moment notice several of the Pikachu and Pichu jumped onto Gengar and started nuzzling and thanking him.

'Ash help me.' Gengar pleaded.

Ash and Meowth laughed at the poor ghost type as he was being thanked by the horde of Pikachu and Pichu. Meanwhile Chu studied Ash as he watched Gengar, she had seen the honest and determined look in the young man's eyes earlier and knew that she wanted to be by his side, she jumped on his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek. Ash was surprised by the Pikachu's action but quickly responded by stroking her earning a content sigh from her. Chu eventually stopped her nuzzling and turned Ash's head so she could look him in the eye.

"Ash I want to join you."

Ash was once again surprised by the mouse, after seeing the close knit community here it seemed strange that she would want to leave.

"What about your family?"

'They'll be fine, you intend to take down Team Rocket and they're the only threat to my family.'

Flashbacks of what happened two years ago immediately put Ash on edge, he'd trusted a Pikachu in the past and it had abandoned him at the lowest point of his life. He looked at the Pikachu perched on his shoulder and was reluctant to have Chu join him after what his previous Pikachu did, however he knew that just because his old Pikachu was a treacherous rat it didn't mean that all Pikachu were.

"Alright Chu you can come with me."

Chu happily leapt into Ash's arms and nuzzled him.

'You won't regret this, I promise.'

* * *

Ash smiled fondly at Chu as he finished the story.

"And getting Chu was one of the best things that ever happened to me."

'It was one of the best things ever to happen to me as well.'

* * *

Brief backstories for the following Pokémon.

Tyrantitar &amp; Heliolisk – While assisting the Pokémon Rangers, Ash met the Larvitar he had hatched who now wanted to travel the world and get stronger. Heliolisk was a Helioptile that the Pokémon Rangers gave to Ash to thank him for all the work he had done with them.

Froslass &amp; Aurorus – In Sinnoh Ash was caught in a blizzard, he took shelter in a cave and found them, Froslass was watching over Aurorus who had been badly injured by a Nidoking. While at first she had been reluctant to allow Ash to help due to past experiences with humans but she knew that Aurorus needed help so she let him heal her. When the blizzard died down Ash left the cave, the next day he woke up at his makeshift camp and found Froslass and Aurorus resting either side of him.

Milotic – She was abandoned by her previous trainer when she was a Feebas for being 'weak and pathetic'. Ash had seen what happened and went over to the dejected Feebas. It only took one look in her eyes he knew that she was destined for greatness and he asked her to join his team.

Scizor – Saw Ash and Lucario training and wanted to test his skills against Lucario, after a close battle Scizor joined Ash so he could have another shot at beating Lucario.

Cinccino – In Kalos Team Flare attacked Parfum Palace and attempted to kidnap Princess Allie, however Ash was in the area investigating one last case for the Pokémon Rangers and stopped the attack saving Princess Allie. Cinccino was one of the Pokémon living on the land surrounding Parfum Palace, she assisted Ash in preventing Team Flare's plans and then joined him afterwards.

* * *

"So that leaves Glaceon who I guess was your most recent addition?" Anabel asked.

At the mention of the ice types name Espeon perked up and began listening intently, she was fascinated by the Glaceon and wanted to find out anything she could about the entrancing ice Eeveelution. It was obvious that that something significant had happened to her fellow Eeveelution and she wanted to know.

"Yes she was. I found her when she was just a small Eevee a couple of years ago…"

* * *

2 Years ago

Ash had just finished making camp on the outskirts of the Menhir Trail, after foiling Team Flare's attempts to kidnap Princess Allie he had heard that several members of Team Flare had spotted around this area. Although he had sworn to avoid evil organisations after taking down Team Rocket and working with the Pokémon Rangers he couldn't stand by and let Team Flare terrorise the people of Kalos. He knew that Diantha as well as a few other powerful individuals were tracking Team Flare so he only intended to stick around long enough to do some damage to them and then leave before anyone spots him.

As he thought about what his next move should be he heard a rustling behind him, he immediately formed an Aura Sphere just in case whatever was making the noise was a threat. He quickly dissolved the attack when he saw a small, bushy brown tail sticking out of his backpack. He could tell by the size of it is tail that it was a young Eevee which confused Ash as young Pokémon were never left alone especially in an area like this.

The Eevee finally clambered out of his backpack with some of his custom made Pokémon food in her mouth. A triumphant look was on her face which quickly vanished when she saw Ash looking at her, she dropped the food and started shaking slightly. Ash crouched down and picked up the young Eevee, cradling her in his arms as she looked at his fearfully.

"Hey calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." Ash said softly.

The Eevee visibly calmed down and relaxed in Ash's arms, he smiled at the young Pokémon in his arms and picked up a piece of the food she dropped. He offered the piece to her and chuckled as she devoured the food in seconds.

"So where's your family? You're too young to be in the wild alone so they must be nearby right?"

Eevee suddenly burst into tears and sobbed into his shirt, ash quickly pulled Eevee tight to him and tried to calm her down again.

"Hey, hey what's wrong?"

'M-my family is g-gone, they left me here.' Eevee whimpered.

"Why would they do that?"

'I was the smallest Eevee and they said I was slowing them down so they ran off and left me.'

Ash was shocked that Pokémon could be so cruel to their own children, he had heard that in some instances younger Pokémon are left to fend for themselves but that was usually more solitary Pokémon not ones that live in families like the Eeveelutions. He looked down at the little Eevee in his arms and felt his heart break for her, being abandoned by everyone she cared about was something he could easily relate too.

"Listen Eevee I know how you feel right now, a few years ago I was abandoned by my friends and a lot of the Pokémon I considered family at that time. After that I travelled with the few Pokémon who stood by my side and encountered other Pokémon who joined our family. So do you want to join our family Eevee? I promise that we will never leave you behind, when you become a member of this family you will never be alone."

Eevee could see the honesty and care in the man's eyes and was sorely tempted by his offer however she was scared of some of the Pokémon that were a part of his family. Ash could see that Eevee was intimidated by the sight of his Pokémon which considering the size and appearance of Tyranitar, Charizard and a few others wasn't surprising. He knew that he needed one of the more intimidating Pokémon to calm the young Eevee and make her feel comfortable. He looked at his extended family wondering who would be best suited when his eyes finally landed on Aurorus, she was large enough to be seen as one of his more intimidating Pokémon but she was very soft spoken and would be more than capable of comforting Eevee.

"Hey Aurorus could you come here please?"

The prehistoric ice type nodded and walked over to Ash and Eevee, she saw the young Pokémon looking at her with a hint of fear and knew why Ash had called her over. She leant down and gently nuzzled the little Eevee, at first she felt the young Pokémon stiffen but she quickly relaxed and nuzzled back.

'Hello young one, I am Aurorus.'

'H-hi.'

'Would you like to meet the rest of the family?'

'I-I don't know some of them look s-scary.'

'I know but they will never do anything to hurt you, we're family and we protect each other.'

Aurorus watched as Eevee seemed to be mentally debating with herself, the small fox then looked at her.

'Will you be with me?'

'Of course.'

'O-ok l-let's go.'

Aurorus smiled at Eevee and took her from Ash and placed the young Eevee on her back. She walked over towards Butterfree, Chu and Cinccino since they were some of the less intimidating Pokémon and introduced her to them. Ash smiled as he watched his Pokémon welcome Eevee to their family, he was slightly worried though when he saw her cower a bit when Charizard approached her. He didn't want her to be scared of any his family but it was understandable for someone so young to be afraid of a Pokémon like Charizard. Ash chuckled a moment later when the dragon picked up Eevee and gently pat her head gaining a shocked look from the Eevee. The young fox quickly got over her shock and nuzzled him, Ash smiled as he watched the newest member of their family meet everyone.

* * *

"I'm glad she fit into your family but that's awful to be abandoned by her biological family." Anabel said sadly.

She couldn't believe any parent could even consider doing such a thing especially to a Pokémon so young. Espeon nodded in agreement feeling sorry for her fellow Eeveelution but also feeling rage towards the Eeveelution who had abandoned her.

"Yeah it was hard for her to get over, but she soon came to see us as her real family. Aurorus was a big help in getting her settled in and gradually became a mother figure for Glaceon which I assume is why she chose to become a Glaceon. Sadly, she does find it difficult to get along with other Eeveelutions."

Espeon's ears drooped and she felt a wave of sadness wash over her at what Ash's had said but she wasn't that surprised that Glaceon wouldn't want to spend time with other Eeveelutions.

"But I think Espeon is more than capable of getting Glaceon to at least be friendly with other Eeveelutions. If she wants to help that is." Ash added.

A sudden desire to show Glaceon that not all Eeveelutions were bad rushed through Espeon, she immediately stood up and walked over to Glaceon who was now laying down in the shade of a tree. Espeon laid next to Glaceon and even though the ice type didn't even glance at her she started talking to the ice Eeveelution. A smile crept onto Ash's face as he watched the Espeon talking to Glaceon, it had been so long since an Eeveelution had gone near Glaceon and not been frozen.

"It seems I was right." Ash said.

"What do you mean? It looks like Glaceon is completely ignoring Espeon." Anabel replied confusedly.

"It would appear that way to most people, however in the past whenever an Eeveelution went near Glaceon she would usually get up and walk away threatening to hit them with a full power Ice Beam. I remember one time an Umbreon ignored that warning and tried to flirt with her and quickly realised the mistake he made. So her not doing anything to Espeon and letting her lay down next to her means that there must be something she likes about Espeon and by showing a lack of interest I guess she's trying to see how willing Espeon is to gain her attention."

After that Ash and Anabel spent the rest of the day relaxing with their Pokémon Ash introduced all of his Pokémon to Anabel individually so they could all get to know her. To the surprise of everyone Porygon-Z allowed Anabel to actually come near him and didn't freak out like he had done in the past, his reasoning being that if Ash trusted her so much then there's nothing to fear.

* * *

As night fell Ash suggested leaving all of their Pokémon in the clearing and getting some food on the way back to the hotel. Just as they were about to walk back into the hotel Ash saw someone chatting on their Pokénav and suddenly remembered something pretty important.

"Oh shit. I completely forgot about Paul and Richie. Oh they are going to be pissed."

Ash quickly pulled out his Pokénav and saw he had eleven missed calls, he quickly dialled Paul's number knowing that he was going to get hell for not calling them. The call was immediately received and Ash could almost feel the anger radiating from Paul.

"Ketchum where the fuck have you been?!" Paul yelled.

"Well I deserve that; listen Paul I can explain everything. I'd rather tell you and Richie at the same time so meet up with me outside the Pokémon centre tomorrow at noon and bring Richie. I'll explain everything and then we can then pick up our schedule's for the second round."

"Ok but it better be a bloody good explanation." Paul grumbled and then hung up.

Ash placed his Pokénav back in his pocket surprised that he had gotten off pretty lightly.

"Well that went better than expected." Ash said jokingly

"Really?"

"Yeah well he only swore once."

The young couple continued walking back to the hotel while they gazed at the sky admiring the beauty of stars and the full moon. By the time they got back to the hotel the light of the moon was the only thing illuminating the streets. They went inside and managed to get back to Anabel's room without being seen and like the night before they fell to sleep in each other's arms.

* * *

Notes

I hope you enjoyed this rather short chapter – In the future I will write detailed versions of the backstories but right now that's not a priority.


	8. Attention All Abusive Guest Reviewers

Hey guys just a short request, if you're gonna bitch about certain aspects of my story that you don't like for asinine reasons at least have the guts to do it when signed in rather than doing it as a guest. At least this way I can respond, if you bitch for asinine reasons in a guest review I will just delete it.

I have no problem accepting constructive criticism and will gladly accept those into my stories review history - If you don't believe me look through the hundreds of reviews I have on Ash's Journey Through Hoenn and you'll find a few reviews with constructive criticism. On the other hand whining about things like Pikachu turning on Ash in a guest review and making quite abusive remarks at me is not something that I will accept on my stories reviews.

I really don't care about the abusive comments aimed at me made by guest reviewers, if you won't sign in to leave a pathetic review like that it proves that you are just an insecure coward. All you are doing by leaving those reviews is making me feel sorry for whoever you are, this is the internet after all, people hurl insults at each other on a daily basis. Anything you can come up with will have already been said by someone far more intelligent than you.

As I said before I have no problem with constructive criticism and I have plenty of those kinds of reviews scattered across my stories left by both people signed in and guest reviewers.

Sorry if this seems a bit bitchy but I just uploaded my first chapter for over 6 months and I've already had two guest reviewers leave abusive reviews. I know I should just ignore them but this sort of thing has to be said, while I'm not affected by these people some other writers are and it has led to some good friends of mine giving up on fanfic writing.

Thank you all for following/favouriting this story, I really appreciate all the support and once again I apologise for this rather bitchy upload.


	9. An Excellent Guest Reviewer

Sorry for another non-chapter upload but I want to give a huge thanks to guest reviewer who left a very well written review. I'm extremely glad that he wrote that as it displays that there are indeed good guest reviewers and I really hope that he or she will log into the site and message me as you are the kind of person I want to chat with. Please check it out, it is rather long but a very well written review - although warning there are spoilers in the review.

Also to the touchy abusive guest reviewer I deleted your incoherent ramblings, it was actually very difficult to read due to misspellings, crap grammar and a lack of coherent sentences. I know for a fact that my 7 year old cub scouts could write something better - Also can someone tell me what the hell 'constructive flames' are? Those things surely contradict one another.

Once again thank you to the guest reviewer and sorry for another non-chapter, work has already begun on chapter 7 so I hope to have that uploaded asap. Thank you all for following this story and I hope you continue to enjoy it.


	10. Crushing A Traitors Spirit

Hey guys before I start the chapter I want to say that I decided to let the last few abusive guest reviews through, please take a look at them as he insults me, the English language and most importantly the fans of this story. Throughout all his ravings he claims he's not abusive and then about five words later admits that he's insulting me – we have a genius on our hands guys.

I hope you get a good laugh out of the reviews because I sure as hell did. I could have spent time replying to each one of his ridiculous comments but that would be a waste of my time, I have far more important things to do. Although if you guys have the time I'd like to hear your opinions on this moron who by the way still doesn't have the guts to review with an account I can reply to.

To be honest guys I actually feel sorry for him, his family, anyone who has the misfortune of knowing him and most of all his third grade English teacher who has to mark his crap homework.

So guest reviewer whoever you may be, are you happy now that I let your idiotic reviews through? All you've done is made yourself look like a complete fool to several people, although I'm sure you do that on a daily basis so I guess it's nothing new to you. This is the last time I will acknowledge you and your insane ranting, so if you want to get a response from me sign into an account and for the first time in your life be a man rather than a scared, whiny little baby.

* * *

Right with that out of the way I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

This chapter didn't take too long because it is basically just an edited version of the original – I only made a few minor changes.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 7, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

The next morning Ash and Anabel down to the area Ash had chosen to train in and they picked up the Pokémon that wanted to accompany them, Chu and Meowth immediately taking their places on Ash's shoulders. They then walked to the Pokémon centre spotting two men standing outside, one looked slightly irritated while the other one looked furious.

"Alright Hayashi let's hear your lame excuse." Paul growled making no attempt to hide how pissed off he was.

"Yeah Takeo what was so important that you had to ignore us?" Richie said just as angrily.

"Well guys I met up with Anabel and well now we are together. So I've been spending all of my time with her." Ash replied hoping that they'd understand.

To Ash's relief Richie seemed to understand and instantly calmed down which Ash had expected as Richie certainly the calmest and most rational of the three of them. Paul on the other hand was less pissed than before but he still looked pretty annoyed which again didn't surprise him. Ash suddenly felt sorry for whoever Paul was going to be battling today as they were going to feel the full force of Paul's built up anger.

"So let's go and get our schedule's." Ash said trying to lighten the mood.

"We'd already have ours if you hadn't been late as usual." Paul grumbled.

Everyone ignored Paul's comment and the four of them walked inside and went to Nurse Joy who handed them their schedules.

"I'm battling a guy called Nando. The hell kind of name is that?" Richie said.

"I've got that loser Barry again; I can't believe that imbecile got an invitation to this apparently prestigious tournament." Paul said with disdain.

"I'm against someone who challenged the Battle Tower a couple of months before Ash. I only just managed to beat him last time. His name's Hyaki Sitora." Anabel said nervously.

"So who've you got Takeo?" Richie asked.

When they got no answer from Ash they looked at him and saw that there was an almost maniacal smile on his face that was so terrifying that it was even unnerving Paul.

"I've get to crush Gary motherfucking Oak. Oh I am really going to enjoy this." He said darkly.

The feral grin on Ash's face was terrifying for Anabel, the emotions radiating from Ash just intensified her fear as she felt all his rage, hate and distain for those who had betrayed him.

"Takeo, please stop this you're scaring me." She pleaded.

Her pleads were ignored as Ash was still focussed solely on the schedule in front of him. He was drowning out everything else around him, his desire for revenge was the only thing on his mind. As he thought of various ways to destroy Gary he saw a tear trickle down Anabel's cheek and she was trembling in fear. Ash was immediately broken out of the dark thoughts he was having and he pulled Anabel into an embrace feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt over what he must have just put Anabel through.

"I'm so, so sorry Anabel. Please forgive me, what happened seven years ago changed me and I let my desire for revenge take over, but that is no excuse for my actions."

"Just promise me that you'll never have that look on your face again or have such dark thoughts."

"I swear to you Anabel that I will do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Ash wanted to promise her that he wouldn't do those things but he couldn't, he knew that if someone harmed a member of his family he would completely lose it. Anabel seemed to accept his response and her trembling had stopped, she looked at Ash's face and the smile she loved was back. The couple broke apart and Ash looked at Paul and Richie with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry about that guys."

Suddenly the doors to the Pokémon centre opened, the four of them looked to see who had entered and saw them. Paul, Richie and Anabel looked at Ash and saw that he was remaining completely calm. The group decided that they should make a quick exit as they didn't want be around them unless they had to. As the groups approached each other the traitors glared at them. Richie and Paul shot back glares of their own, Chu and Meowth glared at Pikachu and Sparky's cheeks started crackling. Ash just carried on forward ignoring them and Anabel avoided their gaze. Just as the quartet were about to exit Ash stopped and looked over his shoulder at the traitors.

"See you tomorrow Gare-bare." He said mockingly.

Before Gary had a chance to respond Ash had left, this made Gary grind his teeth as he hated that nickname and he hadn't had a chance to throw back an insult at that loser. Nurse Joy handed Gary his schedule and saw that he would in fact be battling Takeo tomorrow. The other traitors reassured him that he could take Hayashi down no problem.

"Yeah I'm Gary Oak there is no way that loser can beat me." He boasted as the group left the Pokémon Centre.

* * *

Outside the Pokémon centre the four of them split up so they could some training done before tomorrow. Richie and Paul went off on their own while Ash and Anabel started walking back to the clearing. While they were heading to the clearing Ash kept glancing at Anabel, he saw that she was keeping her gaze down and her posture was tense which worried him. Ash sensed her Aura and could feel that she was anxious and concerned. The emotions flowing through Anabel made Ash feel uneasy and he was seriously worried that his actions in the Pokémon Centre had damaged his relationship with Anabel. As they were about to walk into the clearing Ash stopped Anabel and turned her to face him.

"Anabel what's wrong? Are you still worried about what happened in the Pokémon centre?" Ash asked worriedly.

"No it's not that. I'm just thinking about this guy I am facing. He is tough, the last time I fought him I only just managed to win and that was when I was at my prime. He's going to crush me." She said dejectedly.

Ash watched Anabel sadly as she turned her gaze back to the ground, guilt building up inside him as he saw another of the effects his absence had on Anabel. He pulled her into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him in return.

"Hey don't be so negative. Listen we've got a day before you battle him so me and my Pokémon will help you train."

"Thanks Ash."

"No problem. By this time tomorrow we'll be celebrating my win over Gary and yours against Hyaki."

"Yeah you're right Ash." Anabel replied.

"Come on let's get back to the others and start training."

Anabel nodded in response and they walked into the clearing, they sent out their Pokémon who all looked at their trainers wondering who their opponents for the next round were. Ash's Pokémon saw the look on his face and knew that they must be fighting one of the ones who betrayed Ash which made all of them eager to fight.

"Ok everyone tomorrow we start getting revenge against the traitors and hopefully prove that they were involved with Team Rocket. Our first victim is our old friend Gary." Ash's Pokémon looked at him with smirks that promised pain.

"And we're against Hyaki again." Anabel announced.

All of Anabel's Pokémon grinned, they were excited to fight someone who had given them such a tough battle.

"So Anabel are you and your Pokémon ready for the hardest training you've ever done?"

"Of course we are." She replied confidently.

"Well let's begin."

They spent the next few hours training hard in preparation for their battles tomorrow. They rotated between learning new techniques and fighting mock battles. Ash and Anabel were surprised how much her Pokémon seemed to improve just by training alongside Ash's Pokémon. They watched as Anabel's Pokémon listened to everything they were being told and it didn't take them long before they started to use what they were taught.

Raikou had trained with Luxray and Helioptile who taught him a couple of new techniques on how to manipulate his electricity. Metagross sparred with Lucario and Scizor while also learning how to transfer electric attacks into the ground. Alakazam and Mr Mime spent time with Charizard learning Thunder Punch and Fire Punch to give them a variety of moves and it would be a great way to surprise opponents. Espeon spent a lot of time with Glaceon learning Signal Beam. Gallade spent a lot of time with Gardevoir which at first was spent generally chatting however that changed when Flygon gave them both an irritated glare.

As it started to get dark Ash and Anabel decided to stop training since everyone looked exhausted. After healing the Pokémon up and having dinner Ash and Anabel got ready to head back to the hotel, they offered the choice to stay in the clearing or go back into their Pokéballs and they all decided they wanted to stay out in the forest. Ash and Anabel left the clearing and quickly returned to the hotel.

* * *

The next morning Ash and Anabel went to the clearing and got their chosen Pokémon for today's battle. They walked to the Pokémon Centre where they had to part ways as their matches started at the same time. Ash pulled her into a hug as he sensed how nervous she was.

"Stop worrying Anabel I know you can beat him. Remember that I believe in you and so do all of our Pokémon" Ash said softly.

Anabel wished she shared Ash's and the other's belief but she still doubted herself but she wasn't going to admit that to Ash so she simply nodded in response.

"Once I've wiped the floor with Gary I'll meet you at stadium four."

"Ok."

The couple broke the hug and walked towards the stadiums they're battling in. Ash got to stadium three just in time to watch Paul obliterate Barry, it hadn't taken Paul log to decimate Barry which was what he had expected. He went down to the locker room and saw Paul leaving the stadium.

"Hey Paul that was quite a dominant performance you really crushed Barry." Ash said.

"He was weak." Paul said in a bored tone.

Ash chuckled as he watched Paul leave the stadium, he'd known Paul long enough to know that response is as close to a thank you as you are likely to get from Paul.

"Will Takeo Hayashi and Gary Oak take their places on the battlefield."

Ash looked at Meowth and Chu who were stood on his shoulders.

"You ready to humiliate Gary?"

"Yeah let's go beat dat twerp."

'We'll show him what real strength is.'

Ash, Chu and Meowth smirked as they left the tunnel and stood on the battlefield, Ash glared at his oldest rival who looked away at the referee to avoid the intense glare. Seeing that he'd accomplished his goal of intimidating Gary he stopped glaring and just stood with a cocky grin on his face.

"In the red trainer box we have Gary Oak and in the green trainer box we have Takeo Hayashi." All bar six people in the stadium cheered for the mysterious trainer.

"This battle will be a three vs three match. The rules are that when one Pokémon faints both trainers select a new Pokémon and you cannot use moves like Volt Switch. Hayashi shall choose his Pokémon first."

"Charizard let's crush this worm.

Charizard burst out of his Pokéball and roared as he fired a massive Flamethrower into the air. The sight intimidated Gary and terrified some of the audience at the sheer power on display, Gary was frozen for a moment as remembered the last time he had fought a Charizard.

'I'm ready for battle Ash.' Charizard said darkly as he glared at Gary.

Up in the stands Pikachu decided that he was going to get some answers to the questions running through his mind right now. He was one hundred percent positive that Takeo was indeed Ash Ketchum. All he had to do now was come up with a plan to get close so he could find out how he had gotten this strong.

Back on the Gary had overcome his fear and the irritating smug look that he always wore was back.

"That overgrown lizard doesn't scare me." He taunted.

"Mocking Charizard is not a good idea."

"Shut up Hayashi. Blastoise you're up"

When the tortoise came out he instantly recognised his opponent, a smirk formed on his face as he had always wanted to get revenge for what happened in the Silver Conference.

"Blastoise use Hydro Pump." Gary smirked thinking this was going to be an easy win.

"Take it." Ash said in a dismissive tone.

Everyone was shocked at what he had said, the whole stadium was now thinking exactly the same thing as Gary. They watched as Blastoise shot two high pressure jets of water from the cannons on his back straight at Charizard. The dragon did as Ash had instructed and just stood there and waited for the powerful streams of water. When the water hit Charizard everyone was certain the that was an easy knock-out but they were all gob smacked when they saw that the powerful water attack didn't even seem to have fazed the fire type. Gary stood there in shock at what he had just witnessed. Nothing had ever taken a Hydro Pump from his Blastoise and afterwards stood there as if nothing had happened. Ash had another chuckle at Gary.

"Now it's our turn. Charizard use Earthquake then charge forward and hit him with a Focus Punch and fire a Solar Beam." Ash commanded

Charizard stomped on the ground causing it shake even more than when Onix had slammed onto the battlefield the other day. The shock waves knocked Blastoise off-balance and as he tried to regain his balance he had no chance to dodge or even block the charging Charizard. The dragon threw his glowing white fist forward and connected with Blastoise's jaw which sent the tortoise flying past Gary and crashing into the wall. Charizard then channelled energy from the sun and fired a white beam from his mouth straight at Blastoise who withdrew into his shell hoping to lessened the damage. When the Solar Beam hit Blastoise it caused a massive explosion that knocked Gary off his feet and shrouded the arena in dust.

As the dust settle everyone saw Blastoise struggling to get up and knew that this battle was over. Gary looked at the condition Blastoise was in and he decided to go for broke hoping that he could do some damage to Charizard before Blastoise went down.

"Gary your Blastoise is pathetic. Charizard's not even warmed up yet and your it looks like a gentle breeze could knock your Blastoise out. It's a shame you're turning out to be such a disappointment."

"Blastoise is not pathetic and I will not stand here and let you mock us. Blastoise's use Giga Impact." Gary shouted.

"Take a step to the left then use Thunder Punch to knock him in the air and then you know what to do." Ash said casually.

Blastoise charged towards Charizard who like before just stood there and seconds before Blastoise was about to slam into his Charizard he stepped to the left and hit Blastoise with an Electric infused uppercut sending him into the sky. The fire type then flew into the air and grabbed on to Blastoise. Gary watched as an all too familiar scene played out before him. Charizard had now flown miles into the air and began executing what had become his signature move. He threw Blastoise as hard as he could back towards Earth. Blastoise crashed into the ground leaving a Blastoise shaped crater in the battlefield. Gary couldn't believe it. His Blastoise had never been beaten so easily and the worst part was that he hadn't even landed a damaging hit.

"Blastoise is unable to battle. Trainers choose your next Pokémon."

"Well Gary I was expecting the grandson of the famous Professor Samuel Oak to give me a challenge. I guess I was wrong." Ash said mockingly.

"This match isn't over yet Hayashi. Garchomp you're up." Gary growled.

Ash smirked as his old Gible landed on the battlefield. Although he hadn't bonded with Gible as much as he had done with his other Pokémon his betrayal had still hurt and now he was going to pay for it. Ash looked to his shoulder and saw that Meowth had a similar smirk

"Meowth you're up. Let's annihilate him."

Garchomp watched Meowth walk on to the battlefield and felt almost insulted, he was a mighty dragon who should be fighting worthy opponents not weak little cats. Ash knew that Garchomp was underestimating Meowth which was a huge mistake for anyone to make. Ash was tempted to let Meowth do this on his own because if there is one thing a dragon values more than anything it's its pride and what better way to destroy that than beating it with a Pokémon it's species considers weak. But Ash wanted to contribute to the crushing of his old Pokémon

"Come on Gare-bare you've got the first move." Ash taunted hoping he would get under Gary's skin.

"Shut the hell up you loser. Garchomp use Dragon Claw." Gary yelled angrily.

Ash smirked as his mission was accomplished.

"Meowth match it with Slash. Then use Water Pulse and make Garchomp eat dirt with Iron Tail."

Garchomp's claws glowed green and Meowth's claws glowed white. They charged at each other and their claws clashed. The appeared to be even as neither Pokémon was giving any ground. However, it was just a façade on Meowth's part so he could charge the Water Pulse. He formed a blue orb in his spare hand and fired it at Garchomp point blank. The attack knocked the dragon away allowing Meowth to rake his claws across Garchomp creating a trio of cuts on his abdomen. Meowth then jumped in the air as his tail shimmered silver and he slammed it down on Garchomp's head. The power of the attack smashed Garchomp into the ground and Meowth jumped back in front of Ash. Both trainer and Pokémon then yawned and looked extremely bored which seriously pissed off Gary and Garchomp.

"Garchomp use Sandstorm and then Earthquake."

Sand began swirling around until it covered the battlefield and hid Garchomp from view. The ground then started shaking but the tremors were nowhere near as powerful as the ones Charizard had made earlier. Meowth just stood not even fazed by the tremors.

"If you think some sand will save you Gary then you're sorely mistaken. Meowth use your Aura vision to find Garchomp then use Giga Impact. Follow up with Rain Dance."

"Garchomp use Dragon Rush."

Meowth closed his eyes and everything took a blue hue which made it easy to spot the hiding dragon. Meowth began charging at Garchomp gradually gaining a lot of momentum. The dragon saw the cat charging towards him and his body became surrounded in a blue aura. He then shot straight at Meowth confident that he would easily overpower his opponent. The two clashed and Garchomp was to the crowds' surprise sent flying out of the Sand Storm and he landing in front of Gary. They then saw a blue orb being fired into the sky making it rain heavily which washed away the sand.

"Garchomp crush him with Draco Meteor." Garchomp smirked as he knew that nothing had been able to survive his Draco Meteor for a long time.

"Counter Shield."

Garchomp flew into the air and an orange orb into the sky. The orb then exploded which released several orange orbs that were raining from the sky all headed at Meowth. In response Meowth got on his back and began spinning while firing a Thunderbolt which created a barrier of electricity. The Meteors crashed into the electricity but they were all either deflected or destroyed on impact by the Counter Shield. As the last meteor ricocheted off the shield Garchomp looked down completely demoralised as he just saw his most powerful attack had been stopped by a puny cat. His spirit was crushed and he slowly descended to the ground. Ash looked on at the once proud dragon and felt a great deal of satisfaction as his plan had worked. Ash saw the dejected dragon across from him and decided to end it. There was no fun to be had now in battling Garchomp as he'd broken the dragon and that was more than any amount of pain could ever do.

"Meowth put him out of his misery use Night Fury Slash."

"Garchomp Dragon Rush NOW!" Gary yelled.

Meowth charged at the demoralised dragon as his claws turned black. Garchomp just stood there and watched Meowth as he began his relentless assault. Garchomp didn't fight back or even try to defend himself and took every attack. The sheer number of hits combined with the strength behind each slash meant that Garchomp fainted not long after.

"Garchomp is unable to battle, trainers choose your last Pokémon."

Gary was struggling to choose which Pokémon he should use. He knew that no matter which one he chose it was going to be at a disadvantage against one of Hayashi's Pokémon. Ash on the other hand already had Meganium on the field ready for battle.

"Hey I don't have all day. Do you think you could you hurry up over there?"

"That's it. I've had enough of your loud mouth. Go Arcanine!"

Ash remembered fighting Arcanine in the Silver Conference and how it took a Hyper Beam from Snorlax to finish him off.

"Meganium Sunny Day." Ash said.

"Big mistake Takeo. Arcanine Flamethrower."

Arcanine began building up a powerful Flamethrower while a pair of golden orbs formed between the two stamen-like protrusions sprouting from the top of Meganium's nose. Beams of golden light then shot from the orbs straight into the sky. The beams parted the rain clouds and the sun reappeared. Now that the sun was back out Arcanine released the Flamethrower he had been building up while he had waited for the sun to be back. The intense flames shot at Meganium who stood still and watched the flames approach but looked completely unconcerned. Meganium was then engulfed in the flames and despite what they had seen earlier when Charizard had easily taken a Hydro Pump from Blastoise the crowd looked shocked and Gary looked smug. All of their expressions changed when the flames died down revealing Meganium who was unharmed and smirking. Arcanine was slightly unnerved and took a couple of steps back in fear.

"You know Gary it's sad that your Pokémon are so weak that they can't even do a tiny bit of damage to my Pokémon when you have a type advantage. But then again my Pokémon are far more powerful than you could ever imagine." Ash taunted.

Ash took a look at Arcanine and could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn't want to fight Meganium.

"If you really care about your Pokémon you will give up now." Ash said not wanting to cause Arcanine any unnecessary pain.

Gary was refusing see that he was beaten and he would not give up no matter what.

"Extreme Speed."

"You never learn. Meganium stop him with Vine Whip." Ash said calmly.

Arcanine started sprinting towards Meganium at an incredible speed. He was going so fast that he was almost a blur the only thing visible was the white streaks shooting off him. Sadly, for him Meganium has had practice against much faster opponents so she could easily see where Arcanine was. She released several vines that wrapped around all of Arcanine's limbs and one wrapped around his mouth stopping him from trying any kind of attack. Arcanine tried to break free but his struggling was futile. Ash watched Arcanine struggle to get free and felt sorry for him.

"Gary give up."

"Never. Use Fire Blast."

Arcanine tried to open his mouth but Meganium's vines were just too strong. Ash and Meganium looked sadly at Arcanine as they really didn't want to do any more damage. Meganium looked back at Ash and both nodded not wanting to prolong Arcanine's suffering.

"I'm sorry Arcanine. I wish it didn't have to come to this. Meganium throw him in the air and use Solar Beam." Ash said sadly.

Arcanine sent a thankful look at Meganium and Ash for ending the battle. Meganium swung her vines around and released Arcanine sending him high into the sky. Meganium gathered energy from the sun and the petals around her neck glowed green. After spending a minute charging, she fired a massive green beam at Arcanine. The beam of energy hit Arcanine and he was instantly knocked out. He then started plummeting towards the ground but he was caught by Meganium who gently lowered him to the ground in front of Gary.

"Arcanine is unable to battle. Takeo Hayashi is the winner and will advance to the third round."

Gary fell to his knees, a combination of guilt at what he had put Arcanine through and the fact that he'd never been beaten that badly before was crushing him. Ash and Meganium were smirking at the sight of Gary Oak on his knees and at the soul destroyed look on Gary's face.

"Well I've broken he spirit but he's done nothing to prove he has a connection to Team Rocket. I'll have to think of some way to expose him." Ash muttered as he returned Meganium.

After taking one more satisfied look at his broken opponent Ash turned around and walked down the tunnel, he somehow managed to avoid all the fans and media that had been waiting for him and he left the stadium. Once outside he started walking towards stadium four where Anabel was battling that Hyaki guy, he just hoped he got there in time to see her win the match.

* * *

Ash arrived at stadium four in a couple of minutes, he walked inside and he was surprised to see Anabel's match still going on. He looked to the scoreboard which showed that both Anabel and Hyaki only had one Pokémon left each. Anabel had Espeon and Hyaki had Houndoom and by the looks of it Houndoom was in better shape right now. Ash watched as Houndoom released a massive Flamethrower at Espeon who managed to dodge it but there were only centimetres in it.

Ash looked at Anabel and saw her head was hung as if she had already accepted her defeat. Ash saw the state she was in and knew that if he didn't do something she would lose. He looked around trying to think of something he could do when caught sight of the announcers' box which gave him an idea. It was risky but hopefully it would work.

Down on the battlefield Anabel was mentally berating herself, after everything Ash and all their Pokémon had said earlier today she had failed them all.

"I'm sorry Ash I've let you down." She muttered.

"Anabel!"

Anabel snapped out of her self-loathing and her head shot up as she knew that was Ash's voice, she looked over to the announcers' box and saw that he had snatched one of the microphones from the commentator.

"Listen Anabel I know that you can do this, I believe in you and so do your Pokémon. Now win this match!" He commanded and then quickly made his escape.

Anabel smiled at Ash's words, all her previous thoughts left her mind and determination took their place. She looked to Espeon who smiled and nodded at her showing she agreed with everything Ash had said. The sudden rush of confidence that was now fuelling Anabel gave her the belief that she could win.

"Houndoom finish this use Iron Tail." Hyaki said.

Houndoom's whip like tail shimmered silver and he began charged at Espeon who looked back at Anabel awaiting instructions. Espeon was relieved to see the confident look that used to drive Anabel during battles was back. It was look she had not seen for many years and she was elated that her trainer seemed to be returning to her old self.

"Use Quick Attack to dodge. Then use Dig."

When Houndoom was just a few foot away from Espeon he leapt in the air and aimed his metallic tail at Espeon but to his and Hyaki's surprise he just hit the ground causing stones to fly everywhere. Neither of them had seen Espeon shoot away so fast that she became a blur. They looked around trying to spot the Eeveelution but she had already dug underground hiding her from view, Houndoom kept looking around confusedly as he had no idea where Espeon would appear from. He stood in a defensive stance to prepare himself for when Espeon reappeared.

"Now hit Houndoom with Signal Beam then use Calm Mind."

The ground behind Houndoom shook and Espeon burst out of the battlefield. A white orb then formed in front of the red jewel on her forehead and she fired a rainbow coloured beam from the orb at Houndoom. The attack knocked Houndoom back causing some damage but more crucially it caused Houndoom to start staggering around showing it was confused. Espeon then closed her eyes and began focussing and cleared her mind which greatly increased her mental powers.

"Houndoom snap out of it use Dark Pulse." Hyaki said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Use Psychic to make a shield out of the rubble on the battlefield."

Houndoom shook his head trying to get rid of the dizziness he was feeling and it seemed to work as he was snapped out of the confusion. Houndoom then fired a dark wave of energy at Espeon. But she'd had more than enough time to levitate the rocks from the destroyed battlefield to create a wall in front of herself. The dark energy hit the rocks that were shielding Espeon but the makeshift shield held strong and withstood the attack.

"Now throw the rocks at Houndoom then use Hyper Beam."

"Fire your own Hyper Beam."

The makeshift shield was broken apart and then the rocks were shot at Houndoom. The stones pelted Houndoom which did some damage and it also distracted him from charging his Hyper Beam. Espeon formed an orange orb in her mouth and then shot a powerful orange beam from the orb. The immensely powerful attack shot straight at Houndoom while he still recovering from his pelting so he had very little time to charge his own Hyper Beam. Somehow he managed to charge and fire his Hyper Beam but the attacks collided right in front of causing him to be caught in the explosion which shrouded Houndoom in smoke. When the smoke cleared the it revealed a very tired Espeon and an unconscious Houndoom.

"Houndoom is unable to battle. Anabel advances to the next round."

Anabel couldn't quite believe it. When she recovered from her shock she ran on to the battlefield and hugged Espeon thanking her for her performance. She returned the Eeveelution and looked at Hyaki who looked shocked and disappointed that he had lost when he had been so sure that he'd win. The two trainers walked to the centre of the battlefield and shook hands.

"Well done Anabel. You managed to beat me again." He sounded devastated.

"You'd have beaten me if it hadn't been for the pep talk." Anabel replied hoping it would make him feel better.

"Yeah well next time I'll beat you." He said with a cocky grim.

"I look forward to it."

The crowd then cheered and applauded the trainers for such a great battle and for the sportsmanship they showed. The trainers turned around and went down their tunnel and after pushing her way past the media Anabel walked out of the stadium. She had a massive smile on her face, she felt proud and ecstatic that she'd managed to win.

"That was an impressive display. I knew you could do it." Ash said as he walked out from the corner he was hiding behind.

"It's thanks to you that I managed to pull it off." She replied.

She walked over to Ash and pressed her lips against his. When they broke for air Ash pulled her into a hug, making Anabel sigh in content. She loved the safety and comfort she felt in Ash's embrace.

"Anabel it was your strategies and skills that won that battle. You just needed someone to make you believe you could do it."

"I guess you're right. So how was your battle with Gary?" She asked.

"Well let's just say that Gary got what was coming to him. We'll probably see him in the Pokémon Centre so you can see the look on his face and that will tell you everything. "

Suddenly Ash felt something hit the back of his head. He released his grip on Anabel and turned around to see Meowth and Chu who looked pretty annoyed.

"Hey what da hell boss you left us behind in dat stadium."

"Sorry you two I was just trying to ditch security and I accentally forgot about you."

"Forget it. we're both in a good mood after we embarrassed Gary."

"Thanks. So how about we go to the Pokémon centre so we can get Anabel's Pokémon healed."

Meowth and Chu took their usual spots on Ash's shoulders and the four of them began walking towards the Pokémon Centre all hoping to catch a glimpse of Gary.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

There is an FAQ for this story on my profile. So if you have a question check my profile first as it may have the answer. Any new questions asked will be added.

Combo moves

Night Fury Slash – Night Slash + Fury Swipes


	11. A Waterflower Wilts

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

I've been asked this a few times and will answer it now – even though it's in the Q&amp;A on my profile page (I'm starting to wonder why I put it on there.). Yes, I have done lemons for the original version of this story, they are set quite a few chapters from now but there isn't much in the way of spoilers so read them if you want to. Quick warning though they were written two years ago so they probably aren't that good. I will take suggestions for other lemons to write in the future – just make sure the request isn't messed up, there's already way too much weird and disgusting shit on this site.

This chapter like the last one didn't take as it is just a slightly edited version of the original and I've had a couple of days off to try and get over my chest infection. Soon I will start making more significant changes which will take more time. In fact next chapter is when a major change will happen so it'll be a surprise for the readers of the original version of this story.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 8, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

When Ash, Anabel and Meowth arrived at the Pokémon centre they spotted Gary sat at a table looking totally pathetic. He had May, Dawn and Tracey sat with him trying to console him but judging by the hollow look in Gary' it was obvious that it wasn't working. Ash was enjoying the scene as now Gary was experiencing some of the emotions Ash had felt the day they betrayed him. Anabel was also looking at Gary and despite the broken look in his eyes she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for him, he had been the cause for so much pain for her and Ash.

Ash and Anabel walked up to Nurse Joy ignoring the glares thrown their way by May and Tracey and what seemed to be a half-hearted attempt at a glare from Dawn. Anabel handed her Pokéballs to Nurse Joy and they sat down at the table that was as far away from the traitors as physically possible. The room was completely silent as the traitors continued to glare at Ash and Anabel. After what felt like hours Nurse Joy called out that Anabel's Pokémon had been healed, Ash and Anabel got up from the table and she picked up her Pokémon. As Ash and Anabel went to leave they were stopped by Nurse Joy.

"I was told to inform all competitors that the next round you will be randomly paired up with someone in a double battle. The rules are that each trainer has three Pokémon The first team to lose all of their Pokémon loses."

Ash and Anabel thanked Nurse Joy for the information and then left the Pokémon centre completely ignoring the traitors again. As they walked outside Richie was approaching the Pokémon centre, when he saw them leaving he quickly ran over to them which made Sparky fall off Richie's shoulder and land face first on the ground. Richie hadn't even noticed that Sparky was no longer on his shoulder and as he was about to start talking with Ash and Anabel he was hit with a Thunderbolt from Sparky. Everyone looked at the mouse who was scowling at Richie.

"Sorry Sparky." Richie said nervously.

'So you should be.' Sparky replied.

Richie picked Sparky up and placed him back on his shoulder. Sparky couldn't stay mad at his trainer for long and rubbed his cheek against Richie's as his way of apologising.

"Don't worry about it buddy. To be honest I deserved that." Richie said as he rubbed Sparky head.

Richie then turned his attention back to Ash and Anabel.

"So guys how did your battles go?" Richie asked.

"If you want to know how my battle went just go inside and look at Gary's face. That will tell you everything you need to know." Ash said.

"I only wish I'd have been there to see you crush Gary. What about you Anabel how did you do?"

"I only just managed to just pull off a win. After someone gave me a pep talk." Anabel replied while looking at Ash.

"Hey what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't help out my girlfriend?"

"A very bad one." Meowth answered sarcastically.

This gained a chuckle from everyone.

"So Richie how did your battle go?" Ash asked.

"I won but that Nando guy pissed me off, all he did was keep putting my Pokémon to sleep. I'm just lucky that Zippo knew Sleep Talk." Richie said as he remembered roasting that Kricketune.

"Well that is the only strategy I've seen Nando use which is sad really. Anyway Richie how about you and Paul meet us here tomorrow at ten?"

"Sure Takeo sounds good. I'll see you both tomorrow."

Richie and Sparky walked away from Ash and Anabel and waved at them until they entered the Pokémon centre. They looked around and saw Gary hunched over in his seat with a broken look on his face.

"Ash really crushed him didn't he?" Richie whispered.

'Yeah he really did.' Sparky replied as he nodded.

Outside the Pokémon Centre Ash and Anabel began walking towards the clearing. When they got there they sent out all of their Pokémon who were quick to congratulate the battlers and they all demanded to get a very detailed description of the battle against Gary. Upon hearing about Meowth's battle Charizard roared in annoyance as he hadn't fought one of the treacherous Pokémon.

Ash and Anabel watched their Pokémon interacting with smiles on their faces, they were happy that their Pokémon had befriended each other so quickly. As they looked around they saw that the majority of the Pokémon were sparring. However, they did see the two Eeveelutions lying side by side in the shade of some trees and to Ash's surprise Glaceon was actually holding a conversation with Espeon which was something that had never happened before.

Ash was slightly worried when he saw Espeon wrap her tail around Glaceon's which made the ice Eeveelution stiffen for a moment. Glaceon's reaction seemed to upset Espeon and she was about to release Glaceon's tail but the ice type quickly wrapped her tail tightly around Espeon's stopping her from doing so. The Eeveelutions looked at each other and their cheeks both turned bright red.

"They are really cute together." Anabel said.

Ash nodded in response. They saw that not far from the Eeveelutions Absol and Luxray also had their tail wrapped around each other's and were nuzzling each other. They also noticed Gallade talking to Gardevoir and he said something that made her start blushing. The only remaining Pokémon that was not battling was Flygon who was watching Gallade and Gardevoir. He was very happy for the one he had come to see as a daughter, however he made a promise to himself that if Gallade ever hurt her he would hunt him down and kill him.

As night approached Ash and Anabel made their way to the hotel. The lights illuminating the city made everything look so beautiful, the couple took their time walking back just enjoying the sights and enjoying each other's company. They eventually reached the hotel, went up to their room and had another dream filled night in the embrace of the one they loved.

* * *

The next morning Ash and Anabel met up with Richie and Paul at the Pokémon centre. They walked inside to the main desk and Nurse Joy handed each of them their schedules. They examined the schedules and several emotions passed across their faces. Ash was pleased and at the same time slightly angry, Anabel looked relieved, Richie looked confused and finally Paul looked absolutely furious.

"Oh for fuck sake!" Paul yelled.

"Hey I will not tolerate foul language in my Pokémon Centre." Nurse Joy scolded.

Paul mumbled an apology to Nurse Joy and stomped out of the Pokémon Centre not noticing that he had dropped his schedule. Ash picked up the schedule and quickly scanned the paper wondering who had been paired with Paul.

"Well I can see why Paul is so angry. He's been paired with Max." Ash said.

"I feel sorry for him." Richie said. Ash, Anabel and Sparky nodded in agreement.

"So Anabel who's your partner?" Richie asked.

"Sabrina is my partner for this round. We're battling Jasmine and Erika."

Hearing the Psychic's name made Ash remember his experiences with Sabrina, the thought of being turned to a doll sent shivers down his spine however he quickly remembered the gentle look on her face when he went to retrieve Haunter. It was a great reminder of some of the good he had done during his first travels.

"How about you Richie?" Ash asked

"Well my partner is Morrison and we're against Tyson and Katie."

"That should be an interesting match." Ash replied remembering his battles against them.

"Anyway I've been teamed up with Dawn and we're fighting Misty and Rudy."

"I didn't know the Orange Crew were participating." Richie said.

"They're not. Rudy quit the Orange Crew to become joint leader of the Cerulean Gym after he married Misty." Anabel stated.

Ash wasn't really surprised they had gotten together, during his time in the Orange Archipelago Rudy had flirted with Misty and she had seemed to enjoy his company.

* * *

The trio exited the Pokémon Centre and once outside Richie went off to find Morrison while Ash and Anabel went to the clearing. When the Pokémon saw their trainers they stopped what they were doing and went to them. After informing them of their partners and opponents Anabel's Pokémon looked excited to be battling alongside another Psychic user and Ash's Pokémon grinned as they had the chance to thrash another traitor. Although they were annoyed that they had to be on the same team as one of the traitors. Ash looked at his Pokémon trying to decide who to use and after a little thought he managed to choose the three that would battle.

"Congratulations Glaceon, Blastoise and Infernape you get to crush Misty." Ash declared.

This earned a groan from the rest of his Pokémon who were all desperate to get a shot at them.

"Hey you will all get your shot at the traitors at some point." He said trying to placate them which seemed to work.

"Now let's get some serious training done." Ash yelled.

All of their Pokémon cheered exuberantly and started battling

* * *

Meanwhile back at the Pokémon centre four of the traitors are waiting for their schedule for the next round. They took a quick look at their partners and opponents, Brock didn't really seem bothered by his schedule, Max was angry and slightly scared that Paul was his team-mate, Dawn looked frightened and Misty smirked while looking at Dawn.

Suddenly Misty grabbed Dawn's arm and dragged her away to a private room in the Pokémon Centre which was far away from anyone. Once inside she locked the door and then marched over to Dawn grabbing her by her throat and she slammed the young Co-Ordinator against the wall. Pain shot through Dawn and she whimpered in fear as tears formed in her eyes.

"Listen up you little bitch because I won't repeat what I'm about to say." Misty growled.

Dawn nodded as she started shaking in fear.

"You will not help Hayashi tomorrow. You remember what happened seven years ago?"

Dawn nodded again.

"Well if you even try to help him then I promise you it will be ten times worse. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" Misty snarled.

"Y-yes I-I-I understand M-Misty." Dawn said as tears streamed down her face.

"Good."

Misty let go of Dawn's throat and then slapped her hard. Dawn put a hand to her cheek which was now bright red and stinging, the feeling made Dawn remember what had happened seven years ago and sobs now wracked her body. Misty sneered at the sobbing girl and walked over to the door, she unlocked it and left Dawn alone in the darkness. Now that Misty had left, Dawn slid down the wall and pulled her legs to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her legs as she sobbed.

"Ash I'm s-s-so sorry." She whispered between sobs.

* * *

Misty joined Brock and Max in the main lobby and the trio started talking about their battles tomorrow. What none of them noticed was that a certain yellow rodent was missing. When they had entered the Pokémon Centre Pikachu had spotted the man he believed to be Ash Ketchum going into the forest. Pikachu waited until he knew that nobody was and shot out of the Pokémon Centre and started following Ash and Anabel so he could find out the truth. Pikachu saw them stop in a clearing with a large group of Pokémon approaching. Pikachu quickly hid behind a tree hoping that he wouldn't be spotted.

As he stood there in hiding he overhead the man saying about defeating another traitor and he watched in awe as he saw the massive battle going on. Pikachu had been so engrossed with what he was watching that he hadn't noticed a presence behind him until he was lifted in the air. He tried to move but found that he was completely immobilized, he could see a faint blue glow surrounding him which meant whatever was behind him could use psychic powers.

Pikachu was suddenly turned around so he could see his assailant. As soon as he saw the Pokémon that had him trapped fear filled Pikachu as he remembered him and knew what he was capable of. He stared into the glowing blue eyes of the Pokémon that was sending a death glare at him which only made the mouse even more terrified of the position he was in.

_"So by the look of terror on your face I can tell that you remember me. Well I am giving you your first and only warning. If you or anyone that you know comes here again then they will suffer a painful death. Now I think it is time for you to leave."_

The blue glow that surrounded both of them became even more intense. Suddenly Pikachu was catapulted through the air by a powerful Psychic blast, seconds later he crashed through the doors of the Pokémon Centre and landed at Max's feet. His last thought before he lost consciousness was that it must be Ash if he's there.

Ash smirked at his friends' handiwork, he had known Pikachu had been following them the whole time as he had sensed his Aura. He had been tempted to get rid of the treacherous rat on his own but he knew that his friend wanted to dish out some pain. So he had decided to leave him to the Psychic type who sent him a pretty clear message. The sight of Pikachu flying through the air pleased all of Ash's Pokémon.

"Good job my friend." Ash complemented

_"It was my pleasure Ash. Now I wish to return to the Pokéball."_

Ash gave the Pokémon a small nod and the Pokémon disappeared returning to the Pokéball on Ash's necklace. Ash and his Pokémon turned their gaze to Anabel and her Pokémon and almost laughed when they saw their wide eyes and that their jaws had dropped. Anabel was the first to recover and stared at Ash.

"Ash who was that?" She asked

"Remember when I told you about Team Rocket?" Ash asked getting a nod from Anabel in response.

"The thing is I didn't tell you everything."

* * *

Flashback (three years ago)

Ash had just placed the last of the explosive devices he had and was walking back towards the elevator. He suddenly came across a long dark corridor that had a heavy duty door at the end. The only thing illuminating the corridor was a small light above the door that was flickering. Ash walked down the corridor using his Aura Vision to make sure he didn't fall over anything. He was disturbed to see puddles of blood were all along the floor making Ash wonder what on earth Giovanni had been doing her. Ash tried to open the door but found it was locked so he formed a small Aura Sphere and blew a hole in the door which allowed him to enter the room.

He walked down a series of blood soaked steps into the darkness. Although visibility was extremely low he could make out what appeared to be a torture rack as well as several other devices that would probably cause excruciating pain. He quickly ducked under one of the several cages hanging from the ceiling which were presumably where the prisoners were kept. As he walked further into the room Ash saw the outline of a body in the corner of the room. Ash rushed towards the body and was shocked to see someone he hadn't met for several years. He was chained to the walls and had clearly suffered several injuries from the cruel devices in the room.

"Mewtwo, can you hear me?" Ash asked worried that Mewtwo might be dead.

All Ash got was silence and he was certain that the clone of Mew was indeed dead. Suddenly Mewtwo lifted his head and managed to open his eyes. He was relieved that for once it wasn't Giovanni in front of him but instead the only human he trusted.

_"__Ash is that you?"_Using his telepathy to say that took the last of Mewtwo's energy and he passed out.

Looking at the state Mewtwo was in Ash knew he only had one choice. He took a Pokéball off his belt and tapped it on Mewtwo which instantly captured him. Ash placed the Pokéball safely in his pocket and felt Meowth climb on to his shoulder. Ash glanced at Meowth and could see a similar look of concern on his face

"We'd better hurry up and beat Giovanni. I really don't know how long Mewtwo will last without medical attention."

After Ash had dropped Giovanni and the evidence off at the Police Station he used Gardevoir to Teleport them to a friend of his that Ash had met up with shortly after he began his search for Team Rocket. The person was well trained in healing Pokémon and he managed to save Mewtwo's life. Although it took several weeks for Mewtwo to be fully healed. But as soon as Mewtwo's strength had returned Ash gave Mewtwo the chance to leave but he declined choosing to remain with Ash.

Flashback over

* * *

Ash didn't go into detail about the severity of Mewtwo's injuries or the mutilated corpses of Pokémon and humans that had littered the floor. The things Ash had seen in that torture chamber had haunted him for a long time and he didn't want Anabel to have to suffer through the same nightmares.

"That's horrific. How can someone be so cruel?" Anabel whispered.

Ash pulled Anabel into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him once again feeling safe in his arms.

"Giovanni is a very sick and twisted man. But he will never harm anyone again." Ash said softly.

Ash then tilted her chin up so she was looking into his eyes.

"And I will never let anyone harm you."

Anabel smiled at Ash's words and brushed her lips against his, after a few moments they broke apart.

"I know Ash." She replied happily.

"So shall we get back to training?" Ash asked.

"What do you guys think?" Anabel asked looking at her Pokémon

They all cried out enthusiastically. The rest of the day was spent preparing for their matches tomorrow, Anabel's Pokémon weren't experienced in battling alongside other Pokémon so they worked on the synergy needed. Ash's Pokémon all helped them improve this by training with them, Gallade and Alakazam took to the different battle style no problem. Espeon, Metagross and Mr Mime struggled at first but manage to pick up the battle style by the end of the day. The only one who struggled was Raikou who as a legendary Pokémon was so used to fighting alone that he wasn't great at teamwork but he was improving.

As it started to get dark both Ash and Anabel could see that their Pokémon were getting tired. So they decided to call it a night and returned to the hotel leaving their Pokémon to relax in the clearing. Once inside the hotel they went back to Anabel's room to get some rest.

* * *

The next day after Ash picked up his Pokémon and he went to the stadium where he would get to crush another traitor. He entered the building and walked down the tunnel to his locker room so he could wait for his match to start, he wasn't looking forward to fighting alongside Dawn, her betrayal had hurt him deeply as they had gotten close during their journey in Sinnoh and she had become like a little sister to him rather than just a friend. On the other hand, he couldn't wait to annihilate Misty and he knew that if anyone was likely to blow their cover it was her, all he had to do was get her angry which he knew wasn't a difficult thing to do.

As he was about to enter the locker room he was sure he heard shouting and crying coming from the other locker room. He quietly crept to the door which was slightly ajar and looked through the small gap and what he saw shocked him. He watched as Misty was mercilessly beating Dawn who was on the ground defenceless.

"You're here to warn him aren't you?" Misty yelled as she kicked Dawn.

"N-no I p-promise I c-came here t-t-to watch you win. P-please s-stop h-hurting me" She pleaded.

Misty responded with slap across Dawn's face and another kick to her stomach. Ash couldn't stand by and watch anymore, although he hated both of them for betraying him and the part of his mind that desired revenge told him to leave, the memories he had shared with Dawn compelled him to intervene. Also the noble part of him couldn't allow Misty to keep attacking Dawn like this. He stepped into the room and grabbed Misty's arm before she could hit Dawn again. Misty turned and glared at the man who had interrupted Dawn's punishment.

"What the hell do you want." Misty yelled.

"I'm here to stop this, I don't care what she's done to you, you have no excuse for beating her like that."

"Piss off Hayashi. It is none of your business, what I am doing is completely justified." She snarled.

"I severely doubt that, now I think you should leave before I lose my temper." Ash said remaining calm.

Misty growled and wrenched her arm away. She walked out of the room leaving Ash alone with Dawn who was still sobbing. Ash looked at Dawn and despite everything that had happened he felt sorry for her. She was still on the ground now in the foetal position trying to shield as much of her body as possible. Her lip was split, her hair was a mess and it looked like she would have a black eye in the near future. Ash got on his knees and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey it's okay Misty is gone. Nobody is going to hurt you now." Ash whispered softly.

Dawn looked up at her hooded saviour with bloodshot eyes, she then launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around him while sobbing into his shirt. Ash was torn right now, on the one hand he hated her for betraying him however they had been so close before the betrayal and she was clearly distressed and needed someone to comfort her. He only had to take another look at her to decide what he had to do. He wrapped his arms tightly around Dawn and rubbed her back hoping it would soothe her. Ash found it quite ironic that he is sat comforting one of the people that betrayed and nearly broke him years ago. He would have laughed had the situation not been so serious.

"T-t-t-thank y-y-you for h-helping me."

"It's okay. Has that happened before?"

She took a moment to calm herself down.

"Yes it has been happening for about seven years now. It all started when the group of friends I'm with told me to tell Ash Ketchum that he sucked as a trainer. I got angry at them for even suggesting that and told them that Ash was a great trainer. That was when things got ugly, they attacked me and my Pokémon, I don't know how long they attacked but when they stopped they gave me a choice. Turn against Ash or they would kill my Pokémon I didn't want my Pokémon to get hurt so I turned on Ash."

Ash was horrified at what he was hearing, he never thought they would go to such extremes just to make Dawn side with them.

"I only wish that I could see him one last time to tell him how sorry I am." She said.

The guilt that Dawn felt for betraying Ash caused her to start sobbing again. Ash rubbed her back again in an attempt to calm her down again while he tried to process the information he had just been given. If what Dawn was said was true, then maybe there was a chance for them to rekindle their friendship.

"Will Takeo Hayashi and Dawn Berlitz come to the battlefield." The announcer said through the speaker.

Ash glanced at Dawn who looked terrified which considering what he had just found out was not surprising. He gave her one last hug before standing up and walking to the door.

"Stay here, lock the door and don't let anyone else in. I'll come get you after I crush Misty and Rudy." Ash said as he left the room.

"Good luck Takeo." Dawn whispered once he had left.

* * *

Ash walked out of the tunnel and on to the battlefield, he took his place in the trainer box and watched as the crowd looked around for his partner and when they say that she was nowhere to be seen the sound of several people muttering to each other could be heard.

"Excuse me Mr Hayashi but where is your partner?" The referee asked.

"Miss Berlitz is in no condition to battle so I will fight Rudy and Misty in a two on one handicap match." Ash declared while glaring at Misty.

The crowd looked shocked at his proposal, although he had shown tremendous power when he had defeated Gary Oak fighting two Gym Leaders on his own would be a much tougher challenge. The referee looked dubious but then heard a voice through his earpiece that told him to allow it.

"Ok, Scott has agreed to your terms Mr Hayashi. So the first team to lose all of their Pokémon is eliminated." The referee announced.

Up in the V.I.P box the people present were staring at Scott wondering why on earth he had actually allowed this match to happen. First of all, it had never been allowed before and secondly he was actually letting someone battle two Gym Leaders at once with one of his Pokémon against two of theirs.

"Scott why did you let Hayashi fight on his own?" Lance asked.

"Takeo wanted to fight on his own so I let him do so." Scott replied.

"But it isn't a fair fight." Cynthia added.

"Why do you say that Cynthia? I know for a fact that you and your fellow Champions could easily win this kind of handicap match and you saw his power the other day tell me why you think he's unable to win this."

Cynthia remained quite as she remembered the dominate performance Takeo had put on against Gary Oak.

"You know Cynthia you are right. It's not a fair fight, to make it even remotely fair I'd have to let them use all six of their Pokémon to battle one of Takeo's."

The champions were unsure whether Scott was being serious or not, he was implying that this unknown could rival them in power. They all decided that the only way to tell if Scott was bluffing would be to watch the battle.

Back on the battlefield Ash was still glaring at Misty while taking a Pokéball off his belt.

"Infernape may the Aura guide you."

The fire monkey appeared and shot a Flamethrower into the sky similar to how Charizard had done against Gary. The crowd were once again slightly frightened by the power he demonstrated.

'Let's do this Ash.' Infernape said with a smirk.

Rudy was slightly intimidated by the display however Misty was unfazed.

"Misty calls Lapras."

"Go Alakazam."

The Pokémon appeared on the battlefield, Rudy's Alakazam stood ready for battle, Lapras on the other hand was just staring at Ash. He met her gaze and his eyes widened in realisation.

"Lapras is that you?" Ash whispered just loud enough for Lapras to hear.

'Ash? Help me please.' Lapras pleaded.

Ash was completely livid now, it was obvious to him that Misty had been abusing Lapras by the pleading in her voice and the sad look on her face. Now he had another reason to make sure Misty would pay for what she had done.

"That's it Misty now I'm pissed. I know you've hurt that Lapras and for that you will pay!"

"Shut up Hayashi. The way I treat my Pokémon is none of your concern. Lapras prove that he's wrong and use Hydro Pump." Misty yelled.

Lapras just shook her head refusing to fight.

"You useless Pokémon you are just as pathetic as that former trainer of yours."

Ash and Infernape shook with rage at Misty's words and tears could be seen in Lapras' eyes. Everyone watched in shock as Misty dropped Lapras' Pokéball and then stomped on it shattering it into a thousand pieces. Ash wasted no time getting one of his own Pokéballs and running over to her. She nuzzled Ash, happy to be reunited with her true trainer and allowed him to capture her again.

The referee was about to disqualify Misty for her actions however Ash told him to let her continue battling and choose a new Pokémon instead. The referee once again paused waiting for Scott's decision and was told to do as Takeo said.

"You'll regret that Hayashi. Misty calls Feraligatr"

Ash looked at Misty's Feraligatr and it made him grateful that his fun-loving Totodile had believed in him.

"Well I'll let you two have the first move."

"Feraligatr Hydro Pump."

"Alakazam hold Infernape in place with Psychic."

"Thunder Blast then follow up with Mach Punch.""

Feraligatr opened his mouth and shot a powerful stream of water at Infernape at the same time Alakazam glowed blue and a similar blue glow surrounded Infernape. However, the fire monkey easily shook the attack off and his fists started crackling with electricity. He then formed a blue orb in his hands and the electricity in his fists was transferred to the blue orb which now crackled. Infernape shot the crackling orb at Feraligatr's hydro Pump and it cut straight through the water like a knife through warm butter. The orb slammed into Feraligatr causing him to crash to the ground. Infernape's fist then glowed white and he charged at Alakazam who had no chance to stop the jaw shattering punch that slammed into his face. The force of the punch knocked him off his feet and he slammed into Feraligatr. Both Pokémon got back up glaring at Infernape who was grinning at them smugly. Misty and Rudy looked at each other and nodded.

"Ice Aqua Jet."

"Use Psychic to speed it up."

"Infernape use Iron Tail on Feraligatr then throw him at Alakazam and end it with Flare Impact."

Feraligatr's fist became encased in ice and then he became surrounded in water which then froze from the Ice Punch. Feraligatr then shot off towards Infernape as a blue grow surrounded him which increased the speed of the attack. Infernape stood watching the block of ice headed his way with a smirk on his face. Just as Feraligatr was about to ram into Infernape the fire monkey's jumped and slammed his metallic tail into Feraligatr which shattered the ice and sent him crashing to the ground. Infernape picked up the limp Feraligatr and then threw him straight at Alakazam. The psychic type tried to stop Feraligatr with another Psychic but Feraligatr was moving too fast and he slammed into Alakazam sending them both skidding across the battlefield until finally slamming into the arena wall. It wasn't over for them yet though as Infernape became engulfed in flames and charged at the defenceless Pokémon They both knew they had no way to stop Infernape and could only lie there and take the attack. Infernape slammed into them knocking them both out.

"Feraligatr and Alakazam are unable to battle. Misty and Rudy choose your next Pokémon"

Rudy and Misty returned their Pokémon while glaring at Takeo.

"Misty calls Vaporeon."

"Go Electivire."

Seeing the Pokémon Misty had chosen made Ash's next choice easy.

"Infernape return. Glaceon may the Aura guide you."

The ice Eeveelution appeared and glared at Vaporeon.

'I'm looking forward to this.' Glaceon said with a sinister tone.

"Vaporeon Hydro Pump."

"Electivire Focus Blast."

"Use Ice Beam to freeze both attacks. Then use Blizzard."

Vaporeon opened his mouth and fired a powerful jet of water and Electivire formed a blue orb in his hands and shot it at Glaceon. The ice Eeveelution opened her mouth and a light blue ball formed in front of her. She then fired beams of ice from the orb at the two attacks freezing them. The frozen attacks slammed on to the battlefield and shattered which covered the battlefield in shards of ice. Glaceon then released a powerful Blizzard at Electivire and Vaporeon. The intense frozen wind propelled the shards of ice on the battlefield and they pelted Electivire and Vaporeon which combined with the Blizzard sent them flying into the arena wall. They both quickly got up but looked worse for wear. As they watched their Pokémon being beaten again Misty and Rudy were becoming even more annoyed at what was happening.

"Thunderbolt." Rudy yelled

"Shadow Ball." Misty growled.

"Dig to dodge then use Frozen Shadows."

Electivire began charging electricity and Vaporeon formed a ball of black energy in front of his mouth. The attacks were then shot at Glaceon but she had already dug underground so the attacks passed harmlessly over the hole. The ground behind Vaporeon and Electivire shook and Glaceon burst out of the ground. She then formed several orbs of black energy and shot an Ice Beam at them to freeze them. The now frozen orbs were then fired at Electivire and Vaporeon. The attacks slammed into their backs making them collapse. Glaceon walked to Vaporeon and lifted his head with her tail forcing Vaporeon to look at her. He saw the smug look on Glaceon's face which enraged Vaporeon who managed to get back to his feet and he swung his tail at Glaceon. But she easily jumped over Vaporeon's tail and her tail turned metallic. She then slammed her tail down on Vaporeon's head which knocked the water Eeveelution out.

"Vaporeon is unable to battle."

Before the referee could continue Ash cut him off.

"Finish Electivire with Frost Smash."

Glaceon became encased in ice and she ran full speed at Electivire who had struggled back to his feet. He looked up just in time to see Glaceon charging at him. He tried to avoid the attack but was too slow and Glaceon rammed into his abdomen. The power of the attack made Electivire collapse falling face first on to the battlefield. He tried to push himself up but his arms gave way and he finally lost the battle with consciousness.

"Electivire is also unable to battle. Misty and Rudy choose your last Pokémon"

Rudy and Misty were furious; Takeo was humiliating them just like he had done to Gary.

"Misty calls Togekiss."

"Go Starmie."

"Good job Glaceon return. Blastoise may the Aura guide you."

Blastoise appeared on the field and smirked the moment he saw Starmie he was thrilled that he'd be able to beat it again.

"Starmie Thunderbolt."

"Togekiss Aura Sphere."

"Send them back with Rapid Spin."

Starmie started spinning around and released a powerful bolt of electricity at the same time Togekiss formed an orb of blue energy on her wing and propelled the orb at Blastoise. As the attacks got closer to Blastoise he withdrew into his shell and started spinning incredibly fast. The attacks hit Blastoise but were deflected away and were headed straight back at Starmie and Togekiss. Neither Pokémon was quick enough to dodge and Starmie was badly shocked by the electricity and was now staggering around. Togekiss wasn't in much better shape as her Aura Sphere had struck her left wing which had damaging it and caused her to descend slightly.

"Hyper Beam." Rudy and Misty yelled.

"Let's put them out of their misery. Finish it with Hydro Cannon."

Starmie and Togekiss formed an orange orb in front of themselves and fired a massive orange beam from them at Blastoise who fired two powerful orbs of water from the cannons on his back. The orbs of water met the two Hyper Beams and easily pushed them back. Starmie and Togekiss struggled to maintain the attacks but eventually it became too much and they were forced to stop firing the Hyper Beams. Without anything to stop them the orbs of water then slammed into Starmie and Togekiss and they crashed into the arena wall. Surprisingly they managed to get back up although Togekiss was leaning heavily on Starmie.

"I admire their tenacity but they should have stayed down. Blastoise hit them both with a Mega Punch."

Both of Blastoise fists glowed white and he charged at Starmie and Togekiss. He slammed his right fist into Starmie's jewel which created a large crack in the gemstone. Starmie felt immense pain as it's jewel cracked causing Starmie to pass out. Blastoise then used his left fist to hit Togekiss with an uppercut which sent her high into the air and she crashed down next to Misty unconscious. Ash and Blastoise were slightly saddened that they had had to give Togekiss such a beat down as they had known her when she was just a baby. They hadn't wanted to inflict anymore pain on her but she wouldn't give up so they had to do it.

"Starmie and Togekiss are unable to battle. Takeo Hayashi advances to the next round."

The stadium erupted with cheers and applause at another dominant display by the mysterious man. Misty and Rudy stood there demoralised, they couldn't believe they'd been humiliated so badly. Ash smirked at the devastated looks of Misty and Rudy's faces, he quickly returned Blastoise and walked over to the dejected traitor opposite him.

"What do you want Hayashi?" Misty mumbled.

Ash smirked at the devastation in her voice, he had dreamt of hearing her so broken for so long.

"I just came to say that I told you you'd pay for what you've done Misty."

Ash took a couple of steps away and started heading to the tunnel he come from, he suddenly stopped and turned back to her.

"Oh and by the way it's not over for you yet Misty, your actions have consequences. If you don't believe me just take a look behind you."

Misty and Rudy both turned around and saw Lance as well as several of the G-Men stood there focussing on Misty.

"You see Misty the Pokémon League is a bit strict when it comes to berating a Pokémon which you've clearly abused. So I'm guessing that after what you've done to Lapras they'll take the Gym, your Pokémon and when they find out about the organisation you were a key member in they'll throw you in prison too."

Misty's eyes widened as she realised everything Hayashi said was true, she collapsed to her knees and broke down crying. Ash watched gleefully as Misty fell apart in front of him, he knew it would be easy to expose her for what she truly is. It showed that she hadn't matured at all as she'd let her anger get the better of her as usual and this time it could cost her the things she cares about more than anything. Ash watched as Misty was handcuffed by the G-Men, she didn't fight back against the men showing how truly broken she must be. Rudy tried to push through to get to Misty but the G-Men wouldn't let him through.

"Another one bites the dust." Ash muttered.

Ash turned around and walked down the tunnel, headed to the locker room to get Dawn. He had been thrown by Dawn's confession and was now wondering what he should do about it. He then had to find out if Lapras was okay and why she was with Misty.

* * *

Notes

So I'm expecting a few people flaming me for Misty's OOC behaviour or what I did to Dawn but I don't care. By the way I don't hate Misty, Gary or any of the other traitors.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.

Combo moves

Thunder Blast – Thunder Punch + Focus Blast

Flare Impact – Flare Blitz + Giga Impact

Frozen Shadows – Shadow Ball + Ice Beam

Frost Smash – Equivalent of Flare Blitz, Volt Tackle etc.


	12. Dawn's Forgiven

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

Ok I need to clarify something here – Ash's Totodile which is now a Feraligatr never betrayed Ash, I made a mistake when editing the original version where he did.

Last time I said this chapter would be new content however I decided to improve the first half of the original chapter (Freedom) and use that as a chapter instead just to set up the next event. For readers of the original version the second half of that chapter will not be used as there is a major change next chapter which will be completely new. For that reason, it may take a bit longer.

If you read the original version of this story and have any questions, please PM them to me so we don't spoil anything for new readers.

I was wondering if you guys could do me a favour and suggest some pairing options for Richie – everyone else is accounted for except him. When I get 4 or 5 options I'll put them in a poll so you can decide who he's paired with.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 9, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Ash got to the locker room Dawn was in and was glad to find that she had locked the door like he'd said rather than leave. He gently knocked on the door so he wouldn't frighten her.

"W-who is it?" Dawn asked shakily.

Ash once again felt sorry for Dawn as he heard the fear in her voice, it broke his heart knowing that she had been suffering for seven years.

"Dawn it's okay, it's just me Takeo." Ash replied softly.

The door was quickly unlocked and opened allowing Ash to enter the room. He walked inside and Dawn immediately lunged at him and wrapped her arms around him. Ash returned the embrace and felt Dawn shaking in his arms as well as her tears dampening his shirt. After a couple of minutes her shaking stopped and she was now only whimpering, Ash pulled back a bit so he could look into Dawn's eyes which were bloodshot and as Ash thought now turning black.

"Dawn can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah."

"Were you telling the truth earlier when you were talking about Ash Ketchum?"

"Yes." Dawn dropped her gaze to the ground.

Ash lifted her chin up and saw the guilt and regret in her eyes, it was obvious that she was indeed telling the truth. Ash smiled and lowered his hood making Dawn's eyes widen and she let out a gasp.

"Ash." She said in disbelief.

He gave her a small nod in return, Dawn replied by wrapping her arms around Ash again and a fresh batch of tears now broke out. As she cried Ash kept a tight hold on her and he channelled some Aura into his hand. He placed his hand on the back of Dawn's head and the Aura transferred to her which quickly healed her injuries.

"Ash I-I'm s-so sorry." She whimpered not noticing what Ash had done.

"It's okay Dawn. I understand that you had no choice."

She looked up at Ash with tears in her eyes but she had a smile on her face, she never thought she'd see Ash again. It then that she realised her injuries were no longer hurting, she put a hand to her lip and found that it wasn't split now. She then touched the area around her eyes and found that they weren't sore or swollen now. She looked at Ash in shock as she knew that he must have done something.

"Ash what did you do?" She asked.

"I just healed your injuries with my Aura, unfortunately my Aura can't fix your hair." Ash said.

Dawn looked in a mirror on the wall and almost screamed when she saw the state her hair was in. She quickly rummaged through her bag and pulled out a hairbrush. Ash chuckled as he watched Dawn desperately try to fix her hair, it was nice to see that some things never changed.

"Come on Dawn your hair looks fine." Ash said.

"Fine's not good enough."

Ash shook his head as he remembered how long Dawn could take.

"Okay I have to get Lapras checked by Nurse Joy for any injuries. So meet me at the Pokémon Centre."

Ash opened the door and was about to leave when he felt Dawn grab on to his arm, he looked back at her and saw the fear in her eyes.

"Wait Ash please just give me one more minute. Tracey, Brock and Gary came to watch this match and I'm scared at what will happen if they find me. So please don't leave me." Dawn pleaded.

"Okay Dawn, you have one minute then we're leaving."

Dawn nodded and after her minute was up she followed Ash out of the locker room, they left the stadium and began walking to the Pokémon centre. Ash kept glancing at Dawn who was smiling at him brightly, he had missed Dawn since the betrayal and was glad to have been able to reconnect with her.

* * *

Ash and Dawn walked inside the Pokémon Centre and noticed the that the T.V was on. They looked at the screen and weren't surprised to see that Ash's battle with Misty and Rudy was the big news. They were showing several moments from the battle all of which showed Ash's Pokémon dominating the battle. They listened to the reporter and kept watching the screen as Misty smashed Lapras' Pokéball.

"Moments after the battle ended Ms Waterflower was arrested by Lance and the G-Men however they have refused to release any more information but we will keep you up to date. In other news, moment's ago Paul Shinji and Max Maple advanced to the next round. Although from what early reports have told us Mr Shinji did the majority of the damage. In fact, we have a clip from the battle." The reporter said as the screen cut to the match.

"Gallade is unable to battle. Max choose your last Pokémon" The referee said.

Ash was sure he could hear Paul growl in annoyance, the Sinnoh native had a short temper at the best of times so combining him with the presence of one of them would only intensify his rage. They watched as Paul glared at Max who was ignoring Paul and grinning at Pikachu.

"Go on Pikachu let's win this." Max said enthusiastically.

"Wonderful you're putting all your faith in a weak little rat." Paul's words were dripping with sarcasm.

Ash chuckled at Paul words wishing that he could have been there to experience that moment first hand.

"Shut up Paul. We'll show you who's weak. Pikachu Volt Tackle."

"Emboar Flare Blitz." Their opponent said in a bored tone.

Pikachu was surrounded with electricity and Emboar became engulfed in flames. They charged full speed at each other and when the attacks collided Pikachu was easily overpowered and crashed down next to Max.

"You are so damn useless. I'd be better off fighting on my own." Paul yelled at Max.

"I'm sick of you and your weak rat. Torterra Earthquake."

"No you can't, you'll hurt Pikachu." Max said desperately.

Paul smirked at Max making the young trainer recoil.

"That's my intention hopefully it will get your useless rat out of the way."

Ash watched as Torterra raised its front legs and slammed them down on to the battlefield. The power of the attack appeared to shake the very stadium and it created several large cracks in the battlefield. To Ash's delight Pikachu fell down one of the cracks and was now holding on to a rock that was jutting out. Everyone in the stadium watched on shocked at what Paul had done to his own team mate. They were so stunned at his actions that they hadn't noticed that both of their opponents Pokémon had been knocked out by the attack.

"Torterra let's help Pikachu out of that hole. Leaf Storm."

The leaves on the tree on Torterra's back glowed green. A cyclone of leaves was then fired from the tree which was aimed at Pikachu. The mouse had no way to get out of the way so was trapped in the vortex. The cyclone then shot Pikachu high into the sky and then died down. Pikachu then plummeted to the ground and smashed down next to Max. Ash smirked as he saw Max with tears in his eyes pick up Pikachu who was unconscious and had several cuts on his body from the leaves.

After that the news cut away and they started talking about the other matches that had ended. Ash and Dawn stopped watching the T.V and Ash walked over to Nurse Joy.

"Hey can you take a look at Lapras for me. She has been abused by Ms Waterflower over the past six years and I want to make sure she's okay."

"Okay I'll take a look at her. Although it may take a while to do all of the necessary test."

"That's fine Nurse Joy, all that matters to me is that she's okay. Do you mind if I leave her here with you while I go see if I can find a friend of mine?" Ash asked

"Sure that's no problem at all."

Ash sent Nurse Joy an appreciative look and turned around to leave. Dawn started walking alongside him but just as Ash was about to go outside he called out to Nurse Joy

"By the way please don't tell anyone's Lapras is here. If you do tell someone it could put her in danger."

Nurse Joy gave Ash a nod in response and she took Lapras to one of the recovery rooms as Ash and Dawn left the Pokémon Centre.

"Hey Takeo where are we going?" Dawn asked

"To meet up with Anabel, her match will probably be finished soon."

"Um Takeo whose Anabel?"

Ash then remembered that he hadn't talked about Anabel during his Sinnoh journey, it had hurt to even think about her.

"Sorry I forgot that you never met her and I never told you about her. She is a member of the Battle Frontier and more importantly she is my girlfriend." Ash said while smiling

Dawn's eyes widened again, she knew that a lot could change in seven years but the last time she had seen Ash he was oblivious to love. Ash chuckled at the shocked look on Dawn's face, he wasn't surprised by it as he had always put on the whole oblivious thing.

"I can see that you're surprised, well to be completely honest I kind of faked the whole oblivious thing. I just didn't want the hassle of telling girls I didn't feel the same way."

Dawn stayed silent after this and just followed Ash as he was walked to stadium three. When they got there Ash told Dawn to wait outside so he could explain the situation to Anabel. She reluctantly agreed once they found a hidden area she could hide while she waited. Ash entered the stadium and saw Anabel and Sabrina headed his way, he walked up to the pair and hugged Anabel.

"Hi Anabel, Sabrina."

"Hi Takeo." Anabel said as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Hello Ash." Sabrina said.

"Wait how did you know that Takeo is Ash?" Anabel asked.

"Well after the incident seven years ago I knew that I had to learn to control my Aura powers if I was going to go after Team Rocket. The problem was I had no idea where to find an Aura user outside of going to Rota but that would have drawn too much attention to me. So I went to Sabrina hoping she could help me understand my powers a bit and she gave me the ability to control small amounts of my Aura."

"I could have unlocked more but I had no idea how to teach him how to use Aura powers so I gave him enough so he could start learning without accidentally causing mass destruction."

"Of course I learned how to properly use my powers after a lot of intense training. In fact, my powers now exceed Sabrina's." Ash said with a smirk.

"You should watch your mouth boy before I show you how superior psychic powers are." Sabrina replied with a similar smirk.

The smirks on the pairs faces were quickly replaced by soft smiles and Ash hugged Sabrina, Anabel was worried for a second as she knew that the psychic wasn't exactly a touchy feely kind of person so she was surprised to see Sabrina returned the hug. The pair broke the hug and chuckled at Anabel's shocked expression.

"Well I will leave the two of you to enjoy yourselves and Ash you're always welcome in Saffron, you too Anabel."

"Thanks Sabrina." They both replied.

Once Sabrina was gone Ash briefly brushed his lips against Anabel's.

"Congratulations on winning Anabel. I'm sorry I didn't get to see your match but it's been a bit of a crazy hour."

"Ok what has happened?"

Ash proceeded to tell Anabel everything that had happened, he could see she felt exactly the same way as he had done when he found out.

"Poor Dawn and Lapras, they've both been through so much. So where is Dawn?"

"She's waiting outside. Do you want to meet her now?"

Anabel nodded and they walked out of the stadium, Anabel quickly looked around but she couldn't see anyone.

"Dawn you can come out now." Ash called out.

Dawn nervously came out from hiding and walked to Ash and Anabel. Dawn wasn't really sure how Anabel would react to seeing her, the last time they met she had been horrible to her so she was prepared to be slapped and yelled at. Anabel took a step towards Dawn who shut her eyes expecting to feel a familiar stinging in her cheek, but to her surprise she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. Dawn's eyes shot open and she saw that Anabel was actually hugging her.

"How? How can you both forgive me so easily?" Dawn asked as tears formed in her eyes.

She felt Ash place a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him.

"Because in your place we both would have done the exact same thing." Ash said.

After Dawn calmed down the trio headed back towards the Pokémon Centre, Ash was leading the way as Dawn and Anabel chatted behind him. He had to admit he was relieved to see that Anabel and Dawn were getting along so well. He had been worried that after what had happened Anabel would be reluctant to be around Dawn but they were talking like they'd been friends for years.

* * *

They arrived at the Pokémon Centre a few minutes later and walked inside. They went up to Nurse Joy and Anabel handed her Pokéballs to her Pokémon could get healed. Ash asked if he could take Lapras and was told that she only needed to do a couple more tests just to make sure that she healthy. The trio went and sat at a table to wait for Anabel's Pokémon to be healed and for Lapras to have her last few tests.

Ash and Anabel talked about their battles while they waited for the Pokémon to be healed. Ash was really impressed with some of the strategies Anabel and Sabrina had come up with to defeat Erika and Jasmine.

After spending a long time talking they finally heard Nurse Joy call out their names, they all got up and went to Nurse Joy who handed Anabel's Pokéballs and Lapras' Pokéball back to them.

"So how is Lapras?" Ash asked.

"Well it seems that there is no permanent damage to Lapras but be careful with her." Nurse said.

"In will Nurse Joy, thank you for checking her."

Nurse Joy simply smiled at Ash, Anabel and Dawn who left the Pokémon centre. Ash and Anabel decided to take Dawn with them to the clearing so that she and Lapras could meet everyone. When they got to the clearing Ash and Anabel let out all of their Pokémon who immediately glared at Dawn who hid behind Ash.

"What da hell is the Sinnoh twerpette doing here?" Meowth asked.

Ash told everyone what had happened to her and they felt sorry for her, many of them had suffered at some point and could relate to the young girl's plight. The majority of the Pokémon forgave Dawn for what she had done as they knew she had no choice. The only exceptions were Charizard, Feraligatr, Sceptile, Meowth, Chu, Meganium, Infernape and Donphan who needed a little time before they would forgive her. Those that were there could still vividly remember what happened and Meowth and Chu were just wary of her after the betrayal.

"Oh and I have an old friend to introduce to you guys." Ash said

Ash let Lapras out of her Pokéball which got a happy cheer from Charizard and Blastoise who immediately came over and introduced her to everyone of Anabel's and Ash's Pokémon. The ice type froze Meowth with an Ice Beam when she heard him talk which caused everyone to laugh at the cat. Ash got Charizard to melt the ice and he told Lapras about Team Rocket, once she heard the story she looked down guiltily and apologised to Meowth repeatedly.

"Forget it. Let's just call dat payback for everything I did to you guys in da Orange Islands."

Lapras perked up again, happy that the issue had been resolved so peacefully. Ash watched Lapras interact with all the Pokémon and was happy to see that she was getting along with the other's really well. It wasn't really surprising as she had always been a kind hearted and gentle Pokémon who could get along with almost anyone. He noticed that she appeared to really bonding with Milotic possibly due to them both suffering abuse in the past. Ash walked over to Lapras and gently stroked her neck which made her sigh happily and nuzzle him.

"Hey are you okay? Nurse Joy said you were fine but I wanted to ask you." Ash asked still concerned about her condition.

'I am now thanks to you.' Lapras replied.

"I know this might be hard for you to talk about but how did you end up with Misty? Last time I saw you was when you went back to your family."

'Well it started out as a normal day and then everything changed...'

* * *

Flashback (Approximately six and a half years ago)

Lapras is happily swimming with the rest of her family. She had been very happy being back with her family although in recent weeks she had started to really miss her old trainer but she would never say that out loud through fear of upsetting her family. She kept wondering where he was and how he was doing.

Suddenly she heard several of her family giving warning cries. She looked in the direction her family were glaring and saw a boat is speeding towards the them. She along with several of the other Lapras went in front of the rest of the family to protect them just in case the people coming were threats. As the boat got closer Ice Beam's and Hydro Pumps were now being charged and they were waiting for her word. She took another look at the boat which was now slowing down and she recognised the two humans. Lapras told the rest of them to stand down as they were no threat.

Lapras swam forward to the boat to see them. As she got closer she noticed that Ash wasn't there making her wonder why Ash was not with them. Lapras stopped next to the boat and Tracey and Misty rubbed her head. She looked at them and saw they were both wearing worried expressions.

"Lapras we need your help Ash is in trouble. I'm going to need to put you in a Pokéball to bring you." Misty said frantically.

Lapras was shocked that her former trainer was in danger. She was more than prepared to go with them so she could do everything she could to help him. Lapras said her goodbyes to her family and approached Misty tapping her head on the poke ball she had in her hand. As soon as Lapras was captured a sinister smirk appeared on Misty's face.

"Let's go Tracey, we got what we came for." She said as the boat headed back to Trovita Island

Flashback over

* * *

'Not long after I was sent out in Misty's gym and she started laughing evilly as I looked around the room hoping to see you. She mocked me for believing her and proceeded to tell me what they did to you. She tried to make me fight for her but every time I refused then she'd get her Lanturn to shock me.'

Ash was shocked at how cruel Misty had become, he knew that she was a nasty person but he never thought she go this far. Then again he never expected to see her beating Dawn like that so really nothing should surprise him about Misty anymore. Ash felt miserable and guilty that another person he cared about had been hurt.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Lapras. I should have known they'd go after you once I left." Ash said miserably.

'It's not your fault Ash, I don't blame you.' Lapras said while nuzzling him.

"Thanks Lapras."

Ash hugged his friend glad to have her back, he then thought of something that troubled him.

"Oh Arceus if they went after you that means they could have gone for Pidgeot too. Do you know if any other Pokémon with them were being treated as you were?" Ash asked worried for Pidgeot.

'I'm sorry Ash but I don't know. I was never out long enough to talk to the other's.' Lapras said sadly.

"That's okay Lapras. There's no need to apologise "

Ash suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around and saw Dawn with a look of sympathy and sadness.

"Dawn what's wrong?" Ash asked.

"Ash I'm so sorry but Professor Oak has Pidgeot. After you left he went to Pidgeot and convinced her that you were in trouble and you needed help so she came along without any resistance."

Ash was silent until what Dawn said sunk in.

"Fuck!" he yelled.

He fell to his knees seconds later and started punching the ground.

"Those fuckers got her too. Damn it I failed another person I care about."

First Anabel, then Lapras and now Pidgeot, how many more would suffer because of him? He felt Anabel wrap her arms around him and although her presence was calming for him it did nothing to quell the intense pain and sense of guilt he felt. Everyone looked at Ash and were saddened that he blamed himself for this. What was worse was that they knew that he would keep doing so even if Pidgeot herself said it wasn't his fault.

Ash felt rage building in him, they wouldn't get away with abducting and abusing his family. He fought with all his might to contain his anger so he wouldn't upset Anabel and then opened a mental link with Mewtwo.

"_Mewtwo prepare the island. That old bastard will pay for whatever he has done to Pidgeot."_

"_Of course Ash, everything will be ready by morning."_

"_Good, thank you my friend."_

Ash felt Mewtwo's presence leave the Pokéball he resided in, Ash then got back up and looked around at everyone's worried faces. He quickly forced a smile on his face to hopefully cease their worrying which seemed to have the desired effect. He looked at Dawn remembering that since she had come here with the traitors it was more than likely that she was staying in the same hotel which based on what happened earlier could be trouble for her.

"Hey Dawn are you staying in the same hotel that they are in?"

"Yes I am. I can't go back there." she said in a fear filled voice.

Ash picked up his bag and looked through it eventually finding the key to his room in the Elenion. He handed the key to Dawn who looked at the key bemused.

"Dawn this is the room key to the hotel I was staying in. The hotel is called the Elenion and don't worry we'll walk you to the hotel."

Dawn looked relieved at Ash's words, she had been terrified of walking back alone and getting jumped by one of them.

* * *

Darkness was now falling so Ash and Anabel escorted Dawn to the Elenion and then went back to their hotel. Anabel quickly fell to sleep in Ash's arms however Ash couldn't join her in slumber, his thoughts were constantly on Pidgeot so he carefully got out of bed so he wouldn't wake Anabel and went to Scott's room. He knew it was late and that he shouldn't wake Scott up but he needed to get his plan executed as soon as possible. He knocked on the door until it finally opened revealing a barely awake Scott.

"Ash? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Scott asked tiredly.

"Yes, sorry for disturbing you but I need a favour."

"I'll be happy to help you, what do you need?"

"All I need you to do is give this note to Professor Oak."

Scott looked down at the note and was confused to that it just had some coordinates and a message telling him to bring his strongest team. he didn't know why but the contents of the note worried Scott, he turned his gaze back to Ash and wondered what the young man was planning.

"Ash what's going on?"

"That is none of your concern Scott, all you need to know is that I have business to settle with the old man."

Scott was dubious about this, this sounded like a bad idea but Ash had brought life back into Anabel, he had made her happy and he felt like he owed Ash for that.

"Alright Ash, this is clearly something you have to do so I will pass this message along."

"Thank you Scott."

Scott merely nodded in response and went back into his room, Ash then went back to Anabel's room. It took a couple of hours before tiredness took over and he fell to sleep, but even in sleep he couldn't escape from his thoughts on Pidgeot and Ash was haunted with nightmares of Pidgeot being tortured by Professor Oak and the other's.

* * *

Notes

Next chapter Ash and Professor Oak will meet at the island; it should hopefully be quite an interesting chapter.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.


	13. Felling Another Oak

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

Shout outs to Shrouded Absol, Mr. Hide, LEGAL-EAGLE53 and Webbowriter for suggesting pairing options for Richie – you guys are awesome. The poll is live now so vote for who you want to see him paired with. It will only be up for 2 days so make sure you vote asap.

If you read the original version of this story and have any question, PM them to me so we don't spoil anything for the new readers.

This chapter was a lot of fun to write and I think it fits in better than the original, it also gives Professor Oak a role which I completely overlooked in the original.

This is the first battle I've written from scratch for a while so I might be a little rusty.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 10, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Morning arrived slowly for Ash who had barely gotten any sleep, his worry for Pidgeot had plagued his nightmares and left him feeling groggy. He gently got out of bed making sure to not wake Anabel and carefully left the hotel room. He crept past everyone's rooms not wanting to disturb anyone and left the hotel without anyone noticing. After a quick walk to the clearing he picked up the Pokémon he'd need to battle Oak and hopefully save Pidgeot. With Chu on his shoulder he looked at Mew who had seated herself in his arms.

"Alright Mew can you Teleport us to New Island please?"

"_Of course Ash."_

In a flash Mew Teleported the three of them to New Island, Ash walked into the building as he had done several years ago and headed towards the room Mewtwo had used to clone their Pokémon. The room now housed a supercomputer Ash had discovered in the home of a poacher he had been tracking while assisting the Pokémon Rangers. He had taken the machine as he knew one day it would come in useful and today was that day. Ash walked into the room and saw Mewtwo completely focussed on the screens in front of him. The psychic Pokémon sensed Ash and immediately turned his gaze to him.

"Is everything ready?"

"_Yes Ash, when you give the world I shall broadcast what happens here around the world."_

Ash looked at the screen Mewtwo had been gazing at and saw a Charmander, a Bulbasaur, a Squirtle all with marking similar to his clone ones and strangely a young green haired girl

"Hey Mewtwo who are they?"

"_When I was created there were four other clones, known as Charmandertwo, Squirtletwo, Bulbasaurtwo and a young girl called Ambertwo. She created what she called a Remember Place where all of us could communicate. After only a short while the Pokémon clones disappeared, their bodies in the real world perished leaving me and her. I was young and confused about where they had gone, my confusion quickly turned to sadness though as she too perished."_

Ash was surprised to hear Mewtwo speaking so freely about his early life especially when the topic is so personal, he could tell that the Mewtwo was truly saddened by their passing and he that missed the four of them. Had this been almost anyone else he knew Ash would have hugged them and said something supportive but he knew that Mewtwo wouldn't appreciate that, he's far too proud to accept what he would see as pity. So Ash decided to just place a hand on Mewtwo's shoulder which between the two of them said far more than a thousand words could.

"_Thank you Ash, you should go he is approaching the island." Mewtwo said._

Ash replied with a nod and walked out the room leaving Mewtwo alone once more, he sensed the old man walk onto the island and erected the barrier around New Island. He watched Oak walk through the halls to the stadium and activated the computer which would broadcast what is happening on this island around the world. Mewtwo glanced at the image of the four clones again, he pressed his hand against Ambertwo's and closed his eyes.

"_Life is precious."_

* * *

Oblivious to the cameras recording him, Professor Oak walked to the battlefield and stood opposite Hayashi. He had been looking for a chance to embarrass the hooded man ever since he'd seen his grandson be humiliated and he'd been given the perfect opportunity. It did surprise him that Hayashi had called him out though.

"So Hayashi why did you bring me here? There's clearly more to it than the desire for a battle."

"You will find out my true intentions in time but for now send out your first Pokémon."

"Very well, go Muk."

The toxic Pokémon burst out of its Pokéball and landed in front of Professor Oak, Ash immediately knew that we the Muk he had captured during his earlier travels. Murk betrayal hadn't hurt Ash as much as the majority of his Pokémon, he had never had the chance to bond with the poison type and it made sense that he had joined Professor Oak.

"Sceptile, may the Aura guide you."

The gecko-like Pokémon burst out his Pokémon and appeared on the battlefield, he placed his trademark twig in his mouth and grinned cockily at Muk. A look of recognition appeared on the sludge Pokémon's face as he remembered the Sceptile he was fighting. He looked back at Professor Oak and tried to tell him who they were fighting but the old man just disregarded Muk's actions.

"Bad decision Hayashi, Muk's an expert at dealing with grass types. Hit Sceptile with a Sludge Bomb."

"Counter it with Bullet Seed."

Muk spat several balls of sludge at Sceptile who was slightly tempted to just let the attack hit him just to see how weak Muk was but he had to play the part and battle properly. The gecko fired a barrage of golden seed at the poisonous orbs, the attacks clashed moments later and exploded in between the two battlers. As he watched a weak version of his attack counter Muk's Sludge Bomb, Sceptile had already grown bored of this battle, he had been looking forward to getting his shot at one of the treacherous Pokémon but this was providing no enjoyment. He wanted to end it quickly but he knew that the world was watching and displaying his full power or any of his combo moves would just give people a chance to come up with a way to counter them.

"Muk crush him with Body Slam."

"Let him do it, then cut your way out with Leaf Blade and hit him with an Iron Tail."

Muk shuffled across the ground and loomed over Sceptile, he then slammed down on the gecko hoping to smother him as he had done to that Bellsprout. He thought he had been successful due to Sceptile not fighting back however he was quickly proven wrong and he cried out in pain as Sceptile cut his way out. Muk continued to roar in agony as his body started to regenerate and heal the gash created by Sceptile. The grass type smirked and then slammed his metallic tail into Muk sending the sludge Pokémon skidding across the battlefield back to where he started in front of Oak.

'I can't believe that weak puddle of goo is one of that fools strongest Pokémon.'

"Me neither, Sceptile end this with Solarbeam."

The yellow orbs on Sceptile's back started to glow and an orb formed in his mouth, he could feel the power radiating from the orb and knew that it was more than powerful enough to wipe out Muk. He kept charging though, he wanted to see the look in the poison types eyes as he saw the attack head his way. Eventually Muk's body finished repairing the damage Sceptile had done, he pushed himself up and saw the most powerful attack he'd ever seen pointing straight at him.

Sceptile smirked as the fear was evident in the sludge Pokémon's eyes and finally fired the Solarbeam he'd been charging. The attack travelled so fast that Muk was engulfed by it before he could even try to dodge it. The explosion caused by the Solarbeam raised a dust cloud that shrouded the battlefield, after a few moments the dust settled revealing an unconscious Muk.

"I'm impressed Hayashi, don't get too cocky though as Muk is the weakest Pokémon on my team."

"Talk is cheap, send out your next Pokémon."

"Very well then, trust me the next one will give you more of a challenge. Pidgeot crush that fool."

Ash was relieved when he heard Oak say that however that relief suddenly vanished when he saw Pidgeot, her eyes burned with fury and she gave him a death glare. He automatically knew that something was wrong with Pidgeot, he looked at her again and spotted the collar around her neck. While the presence of the collar made it a lot easier to expose Oak it saddened him that Pidgeot had suffered wearing one of those despicable devices.

"I knew you would be involved in Team Rocket. So tell me who made those collars now."

"Come on Hayashi it doesn't take genius to figure that out."

"You made them but why? You're a respected Pokémon Professor, why would you join Team Rocket and why would create those collars?"

"At first it was just for funding, the Pokémon League had just cut our research budget, combine that with staff wages and the ever increasing number of Pokémon I was having to look after and money was running short. That's when Giovanni approached me with an offer, all the technology and funds I could ever ask for in exchange for creating a collar that enslaved Pokémon. I suppose morally I should have refused but I decided that doing a little evil was worth the payoff."

"How many of those sick devices did you make?"

"My, my, full of question aren't we. Well if you must know to begin with I only made two, the first was a tester which was used on this Pidgeot."

"What about the second one?"

"Giovanni wanted to use that to control a secret Pokémon but apparently it failed."

Ash was almost certain he knew what secret Pokémon Giovanni had tried to use that collar on, he momentarily glanced to where Mewtwo was and wondered what else the proud Pokémon had gone through.

"So why go to all of this expense for these collars that half the time don't even work? Surely Master Balls are much easier to produce."

"Indeed they are but while Master Balls have a one hundred percent capture rate it doesn't change the fact that a Pokémon will be disobedient. My collars removed that possibility and that's when I realised something, with the technology at my disposal I could easily do all the research I wanted. I wouldn't have to worry about Pokémon escaping or doing anything to hamper my research."

"So you joined Team Rocket for your selfish desire for power and prestige."

"I suppose you could see it that way but just think of all the discoveries I've made over the past seven years. It would have taken much longer to accomplish that without Team Rocket's funding."

"But you've destroyed the lives of countless Pokémon, you ripped them away from their families and friends. How can you say that any of your so called research is factual when the Pokémon have been controlled into doing what you want? Your research is nothing more than a load of fraudulent myths perpetuated by you."

Professor Oak growled at Takeo's comments, he valued his research more than almost anything else and having a man claim that his research wasn't factual enraged the old man.

"Hurry up and choose you Pokémon." Oak growled.

Ash wasn't sure who to pick, he didn't want to hurt Pidgeot but with that collar on she wasn't going to listen to anyone other than Oak.

'Ash I can hit it with a Shock Wave, it'll fry the collar without harming Pidgeot.' Chu said.

"Alright, wait for Oak to make the move then jump on her back."

Chu jumped off Ash's shoulder and stepped onto the battlefield, directing an intense glare at Oak who was only smirking at what he assumed to be an easy target.

"Pidgeot use Giga Impact and deal with that rat."

"You know what to do Chu."

Chu nodded and watched as an orange aura surrounded Pidgeot and she flew straight at her, Chu knew she had to wait for the perfect moment to do this. If she jumped too late she'd get hit by Pidgeot and if she jumped too early she'd miss Pidgeot and Oak would be smart enough to not use another close range move, which would make this battle grow far more violent than she wanted.

Chu kept watching as Pidgeot approached and then finally jumped over Pidgeot's Giga Impact and onto the flying types back. She tried to fire her Shock Wave immediately but Pidgeot started to fly erratically trying to shake Chu off which made it impossible for her to get a precise shot on the collar.

'Ash I can't be precise with Shock Wave when she's trying so hard to shake me off.'

"Alright try and direct her straight at me."

'What?! Are you crazy?! If she hits you with her beak she'll skewer you!

"Trust me, I'll be fine."

Chu didn't like Ash's idea but she would never disobey him so she placed all her weight forward which angled Pidgeot to Ash, as the bird flew towards Ash, Chu desperately hoped Ash knew what he was doing. Moments before Pidgeot would hit Ash he raised his hands up and grabbed Pidgeot's wings, the force behind her charge sent Ash skidding backwards despite him digging his heels into the ground. He slammed into the wall behind him letting out a groan as Pidgeot tried to peck at his face.

"Pidgeot please, it's me Ash. You've got to fight the collars control; I know you can do it." Ash whispered.

A flicker of recognition appeared in Pidgeot's eyes and he saw her gaze soften. The flying type stopped her struggles and looked at her old master in shock, she had long lost hope of seeing him again.

'Ash? I'm sorry but I can't break it, I've tried before and the pain is so intense. You have to help me please.'

"Everything will be okay now Pidgeot, I'm going to save you from that twisted old man. Now Chu!"

Chu didn't need to be told twice and she fired a shock wave straight up that hit the collar with pinpoint accuracy, a few sparks were released by the collar before in broke apart. The evil red glow in Pidgeot's eyes faded, she gazed lovingly at Ash and nuzzled her true trainer, she had desperately missed him and was elated to finally be reunited with him. She felt him hug her and gently run his hand through her feathers just as he had done when he was just a boy.

'Thank you for saving me Ash.'

"It's okay Pidgeot. I promise that as soon as I've dealt with him I'll take you to a Pokémon Centre and we can give a full health check."

Ash glanced at Oak and saw that the old men was furious at what had transpired, he smirked at Oak which only seemed to further enrage him. Suddenly he started to laugh hysterically which both confused and angered Ash.

"What the hell is so funny?"

"That you think she's free. You may have destroyed her collar but Pidgeot still belongs to me."

Professor Oak took Pidgeot's Pokéball out and aimed it at the noble bird however a blue glow immediately surrounded it and before he could recall Pidgeot, the Pokéball shattered into a thousand pieces. The remnants of Pidgeot's prison fell from the old man's hand and landed on the battlefield. Professor Oak looked at the shards of the Pokéball in shock wondering what had done this. Meanwhile Ash was looking up at the room Mewtwo was sat in, thankful that he had intervened so quickly.

"_Thank you Mewtwo."_

"_It was my pleasure Ash. You should finish this quickly, I sense several people heading towards the island led by Lance. They tracked this location far sooner than I expected."_

"_Well I guess I'll have to make this quick then. Thanks for the update Mewtwo, keep the barrier up until I say otherwise."_

"_Very well."_

Professor Oak finally got over the shock of losing Pidgeot and glared at Takeo, the confusion he had felt was replaced by rage as he had lost a strong test subject. He was curious about what had caused the Pokéball to shatter, judging by the blue glow it was some kind of psychic attack but the only Pokémon Takeo had out was his Pikachu. The old man decided to ignore what just happened for now and focus on the battle.

"I don't know how you did that Takeo, but believe me you're going to regret it."

"_Ash let me fight him." Mew suddenly demanded._

"_Are you sure Mew? This battle is being broadcast to the world, people will know where to find you."_

"_As long as I'm with you Ash I have no fear of people knowing my location. I know you'd never let me fall into someone else's clutches so please let me deal with his remaining Pokémon, he hurt one of our family and I want to make them pay."_

"_Okay Mew, you can fight him."_

Ash turned his attention back to Oak who seemed to be struggling to decide who to use next so in a way Mew had made the decision easy for the old man.

"Hey let's stop messing around old man, send out your remaining Pokémon and I'll fight them with one of mine."

"Very well. I'll admit Takeo; you are indeed powerful but you have nothing that can match these four Pokémon. Go Dragonite, Charizard, Exeguttor and Gyrados."

He smirked as all four of the Pokémon appeared on his side of the battlefield, he was certain that Takeo would fall to this dream team however his belief was shaken when he saw the confident look in Takeo's eyes. He watched as the hooded man took a pink Pokéball off of the necklace he was wearing and wondered why he would keep four unique Pokéballs on a necklace.

"Come on out my friend."

The pink ball burst opened and revealed one of the most sought after Legendary Pokémon in the world, Ash could almost hear the shocked gasps of everyone around the world watching. He looked at Oak and saw that the old man was in shock but had that weird look in his eye that he always had when he'd seen something new he could research like the G.S. Ball.

"Incredible, that Mew will make an excellent test subject. I must have it, Gyrados use Dragonbreath, Exeguttor use Razor Leaf, Dragonite and Charizard use Dragon Claw

"Just dodge them."

Gyrados opened his mouth fired a wave of green and yellow flames at Mew who easily dodged the attack and giggled at the weak attempt. A barrage of leaves was the next to come Mew's way and she easily ducked and weaved through the leaves once again giggling at their failure. Dragonite and Charizard decided it was time to get involved and flew straight at Mew with their claws sharpened and ready to strike. Mew grinned as the pair came closer and flew between them making their first attack miss, they quickly changed direction and attempted to hit her but she was dodging every attack while giggling. Gyrados and Exeguttor added their Dragonbreath and Razor Leaf attacks to the fight but couldn't hit Mew either. Oak like his Pokémon growled in annoyance as all of their attacks were dodged while Mew and Takeo laughed at him.

"Stop mocking me!"

It eventually got too much for Dragonite and after once more round of dodging he released a deafening screech and put all his power into a Dragon Claw. He aimed another attack at Mew and was certain the attack would hit her when Mew dodged at the last second causing his to Charizard instead. The fire type roared as three gashes were now oozing blood from his face and quickly evened the score by slashing Dragonite. Mew levitated in the air between the two of them and looked at the wounds they'd caused each other.

"_Shouldn't you two be fighting me rather than each other?" _Mew asked as she easily dodged another Dragonbreath.

Charizard and Dragonite roared angrily and once again started desperately trying and still failing to hit Mew, a combination of sweat and blood poured from them as they continued to miss Mew.

'Stay still you little pink bitch!' Dragonite snarled as he swiped at Mew and missed again.

"_Insulting a Legendary with my power is a very bad decision. Ash can I finish this scum off?"_

"Okay Mew, we've had our fun. Take them all out with Psychic."

"_Gladly."_

Mew's eyes glowed blue and a similar glow surrounded Dragonite, Charizard, Exeguttor and Gyrados, they tried to fight against the psychic powers controlling them but they couldn't move a muscle. The four trapped Pokémon looked at the Legendary in fear, they expected her to be powerful but this was far more power than they had ever experienced. Mew slapped her paws together and they slammed into one another leaving them all dazed, she then threw them all to the ground making them slam into the battlefield. The four of them groaned as pain rushed through their bodies, they looked up at Mew and saw that her eyes had turned pure red.

"Wow she's really pissed." Ash murmured.

"_You contributed to the torture of one of our family members. For that you… will… PAY!"_

Mew raised her paws and dark clouds gather overhead, the sounds of roaring thunder reverberated around the stadium and blinding bolts of lightning lit up the darkened battlefield. Gradually an enormous cloud of electricity formed above Mew, the cloud eventually stopped growing and a massive bolt of electricity shot from the cloud aimed straight at the four helpless Pokémon. The attack hit all four of them which created a massive explosion that knocked Oak off his feet and disoriented him.

When Oak finally regained his senses he looked at the battlefield and was in shock as he that it had been replaced by a massive crater that had his four Pokémon at the base of it. He reluctantly recalled his Pokémon and glared at Takeo, he had failed to embarrass him and he now knew of his involvement with Team Rocket. Not that it mattered though, all evidence of his links to Team Rocket were destroyed, he's made sure of that personally.

* * *

Meanwhile Ash was ignoring the old man and focussing on Mew who flew down and nuzzled him tenderly, Ash hugged her tightly and smiled softly in response. It still surprised him how quickly she could go from a raging force of nature to a gentle, caring friend.

"Well done Mew, you were awesome."

"_Thanks Ash."_

After a few moments the psychic Pokémon reluctantly broke the hug, she knew that they had to leave soon as the G-Men were just outside Mewtwo's Psychic barrier.

"_Mewtwo can you drop the Psychic barrier and Teleport us all out of here and back to the clearing please."_

"_Of course Ash."_

"_Thank you."_

Ash turned his attention back to Professor Oak who was still glaring at him, he couldn't believe that he had looked up to the old man all those years ago. A feeling of satisfaction ran through him as he sensed Lance and a group of G-Men get onto the island, he knew it wouldn't be long until Oak would be rotting in prison.

"Well I guess this is where we part ways, I've got to get Pidgeot to a Pokémon Centre, Arceus knows what damage that collar of yours has caused. Oh and by the way don't worry I'll be sending your grandson to join you in prison."

Before Professor Oak could question the hooded man and his Mew had vanished, the old man looked around the stadium in confusion not noticing the group of G-Men led by Lance that had just entered the stadium.

"What the hell was that fool on about?"

"Samuel Oak you are under arrest."

Professor Oak turned around in shock wondering where the G-Men had come from.

"You want to arrest me? For what?"

"Pokémon abuse, collaborating with Team Rocket and I'm sure we'll be able to find some more crimes you're guilty of when we start a full investigation."

One of the G-Men walked up to Professor Oak and quickly handcuffed him, the old man struggled against the G-Men who were dragging him away, adamant that he was innocent. Lanced followed behind making sure that the old man didn't try to escape, the Champion of Kanto looked at the battlefield one last time and was growing increasingly curious about Takeo Hayashi.

* * *

Notes

Thank you all for reading, be warned there's a lot of notes this time.

For anyone wondering if I made up what happened in Mewtwo's youth, I didn't that is actually what happened. Amber was Dr. Fuji's daughter and he wanted to try and clone her which is how he got involved with Team Rocket. Mewtwo really does have a very sad story and when you really look into it you can truly understand why Mewtwo is so complex and behaves as he does. I just hope I write the character the way he should be written.

I did have another idea for this chapter involving Lugia which if I hadn't had Pidgeot under Oak's control I'd have gone with. I just feel like adding Lugia would have been overkill. The idea for Lugia will feature later in the story though, I think it's too good to not use.

I might add a chapter to backstories on how Anabel is during this chapter.

Once again please vote on Richie's partner, the sooner there's a landslide victory for one character, the sooner I can start writing the next chapter.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.


	14. Family

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

If you read the original version of this story and have any questions, PM them to me so we don't spoil anything for the new readers.

The poll will go on a little longer, it's a little too close right now (there's 4 votes between 1st and 4th) and the pairing won't start until chapter 13 at the earliest anyway so there's now a bit more time to vote.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 11, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Ash, Chu and Mew appeared in the clearing and were quickly surrounded by all the Pokémon congratulating him on rescuing Pidgeot and exposing Professor Oak. He wondered how they all knew about what had happened but was pretty sure that it was Mewtwo's doing. He glanced around the clearing and was disappointed to see that Anabel wasn't here.

"Has Anabel been here today?"

"No we haven't seen her." Meowth replied.

Ash knew that Anabel must have either stayed at her hotel with the other Frontier Brains or she went to meet Dawn. He really wished he could go see her right now but he knew that he need to get Pidgeot to a Pokémon Centre and see how much damage that collar had done. Ash hoped that someone else would find her and put her mind at ease, the last thing he wanted was to worry Anabel.

"Mew can you Teleport us to the Pokémon Centre please?"

"_Of course."_

In a flash Ash and Mew were now stood in front of the Pokémon Centre, Ash immediately pulled the legendary into a hug and felt her snuggle into him. He looked into her blue and eyes and could see that she was tired although knowing how energetic she is she probably hasn't noticed yet.

"Thanks for everything today Mew."

"_I'm happy to help whenever I can."_

"You should head back to the others and get some rest, you may not feel like it but you look tired."

"_Maybe your right, when I lose it like I did it does drain me a bit."_

Mew hugged Ash again and then Teleported away leaving Ash alone, he took the Pokéball containing Pidgeot out of his pocket and faced the Pokémon Centre. Ash was desperately hoping Nurse Joy wasn't busy so she could take a look at Pidgeot, he was extremely concerned about how much damage the collar had done. He had seen a few in the past and they done anything from psychological damage to killing the wearer. He took one more worried glance at Pidgeot's Pokéball and walked into the Pokémon Centre.

* * *

Meanwhile Anabel and Dawn were heading towards the Pokémon Centre to hopefully meet up with Ash. They like most of the world had watched the events that had transpired and were certain that the first thing he'd do would be take Pidgeot to the Pokémon Centre. The pair were just casually strolling while talking when suddenly a blue blur slammed into Anabel knocking her to the ground. A look of concern appeared on Dawn's and face and she knelt down next to Anabel hoping that she hadn't been injured.

"Anabel are you okay?" Dawn asked concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine thanks." Anabel replied.

Anabel and Dawn then looked to the Pokémon now lying on Anabel's stomach. It was a small, blue, aquatic Pokémon with stubby feet and club-like arms that are longer than its body. It had a red gem on its chest and a yellow dot below the gem. Its onion-shaped head had a pair of long blue antennae, which have small spheres on the ends. Its irises were dark blue with yellow sclera, and there are two yellow dots of eyelash-like markings extending from the eyes.

"What Pokémon is that?" Dawn asked.

"I-I really don't know." Anabel replied.

"Mama." The mystery Pokémon said while looking at Anabel.

Anabel's eyes widened as she remembered a story Ash had told her after he beat Brandon.

"Wait a minute, I remember Ash telling me about a Pokémon that called him papa and May mama. I think its name was Manaphy."

Dawn looked at the little blue Pokémon in Anabel's arms and remembered Ash telling her the same story, she never thought she'd actually meet the Pokémon Ash had told her about.

"So is Ash your papa?" Dawn asked getting a nod from Manaphy in response.

"And May is your mama." Anabel added.

"No! She no mama! You mama." Manaphy responded while still looking at Anabel.

Anabel smiled at Manaphy and cradled the young Pokémon in her arms, Manaphy sighed in content and snuggled into her mama's embrace.

"Love you mama." Manaphy said.

Anabel was surprised by Manaphy's declaration but she only needed to take one look at the cute little Pokémon resting in her arms to know how she felt.

"Love you too Manaphy." Anabel said tenderly

Dawn smiled at the adorable interaction between the Anabel and Manaphy and started gently stroking Manaphy head. The Seafaring Pokémon enjoyed the attention from both Anabel and Dawn and leaned into their touch.

"Come on then let's go find papa." Dawn said while stroking Manaphy.

"Yay papa make me happy!" Manaphy exclaimed.

Anabel gave Manaphy a small hug which she immediately returned, both knew that even though they had just met they had already made a strong bond that would never be broken.

"Papa makes me happy too."

Dawn helped Anabel to her feet and the trio recommenced their journey to the Pokémon Centre, the journey was mostly spent in silence as Dawn and Anabel were mostly paying attention to Manaphy who had fallen to sleep in Anabel's arms.

* * *

As soon as Ash entered the Pokémon Centre he instantly saw a woman he hadn't seen for over a year and a smile broke out on his face. The woman's head had shot up when she heard the doors open and her eyes lit up as she saw Ash enter. The woman got up from the table she was sat at, walked over to Ash and hugged him tightly, smiling tenderly as she felt him return her embrace.

"Ash I've missed you." she said

"I've missed you too mum." Ash replied.

Ash hugged his mother, happy to see her again. He hadn't seen her since he'd left to train on Mt Quena with Mewtwo and the clones. Of course he still kept in touch with her with regular calls but it was nice to see her face to face again.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd have watched the tournament on T.V."

"Well I saw that you were competing and I had to come see you battle but why didn't you tell me you were participating in this?"

Ash dropped his head in shame, he'd gotten so wrapped up in getting his revenge on his former friends that he'd forgotten to just call his mother to tell her what was going on.

"I'm so sorry mum, I got so caught up with them being here that I selfishly forgot." he said guiltily.

"It's okay sweetie I understand how their presence could do that. I don't blame you."

Ash smiled at his mother's forgiving nature, he was unbelievably grateful that his mother had stuck by him throughout everything.

"So how have you, Mimey and Ariana been since I last called?"

"Well me and Mimey have been fine but Ariana has missed you dearly."

"So where is Ariana?"

The second he asked the question Ash felt a pair of arms wrap around him, he looked down and saw his adopted sister Ariana. She hadn't changed much in the past year, she still had her shoulder-length black hair, her skin like his is lightly tanned, and she has dark green eyes. The only real change is that she had grown a bit probably standing at around four a half foot.

"Hey Ariana how are you?"

"Ash I m-missed you so much this year."

Ash saw tears forming in his little sisters' eyes and could see just how much she had missed him, he quickly got down on to his knees and pulled her into a tight hug. He felt her cling to him as if she was worried he'd disappear and could feel her shaking in his arms as cried into his shirt.

"I'm sorry I was gone for so long but I promise I won't be training on top of any more mountains. So I'll be able to see you a lot more."

It didn't take long for Ariana's sobs to subside, she pulled back from the hug and had a massive smile on her face. Ash wiped away her remaining tears and stood up, he picked her up and twirled her around drawing a giggle from her.

"So how have you been sis?" Ash asked.

"I've been doing great; mum's been helping me with my training. She says that if I keep training I'll be able to become a coordinator." Ariana replied happily.

"That's great news, I can't wait for the day your first contest comes around. I know you'll be amazing"

"You really think so?"

"I know so. Right I need to give Pidgeot to Nurse Joy so she can do a check-up on her and then we can properly catch up." Ash said.

Ash put Ariana back on the ground who immediately missed the feeling of her brother arms wrapped around her. She watched as Ash walked over to Nurse Joy and started talking with the Nurse. Ariana looked away when she felt a tap on her shoulder, she looked up at her mother who was searching through her bag. She already knew what her mother was looking for but wasn't sure if this was the right time.

"Are you sure this is the best time to do that?" Ariana asked.

"Yes, the sooner we do it the better." Delia replied.

"Okay mum."

While Ash was discussing the scans that would be done to Pidgeot he was certain he could his mother and Ariana whispering about something. Although if he was being totally honest he wasn't really that concerned about what they were talking about. At the minute he was focussed entirely on Pidgeot and was just hoping Nurse Joy would give Pidgeot the all clear when she finished the long list of necessary medical checks. He was preparing himself for the worst though as he knew those collar's had caused serious damage in the past so he was worried for her. After Nurse Joy took Pidgeot's Pokéball and went to one of the back rooms Ash walked back to Ariana and his mother who stopped whispering.

"What were you two whispering about?" Ash asked.

Ash was surprised to see that they both looked nervous for some reason, whatever they had been talking about must be important.

"There is someone else here to see you Ash. Now before you do anything just promise us you'll hear what he has to say first." Delia said.

Ash wasn't liking the sound of this, it sounded like he wasn't about to like who he was about to meet but they were his family so he trusted them and would do anything for them.

"Ok I promise."

Ash watched as his mother took an old looking Pokéball out of her bag, he was curious who was inside the Pokéball. He knew there was no way it could be Mimey because he never went into his poke ball. He tried to think of who else it could be but to his knowledge she didn't have any other Pokémon.

"Come on out." Delia said as she opened the Pokéball

The Pokémon contained in the old Pokéball appeared in a flash of light. Once the light died down it showed a reptilian creature that somewhat resembles a toad or a young dinosaur with a spotted blue-green hide. He had three white toes growing out from each of his four legs. His irises are bright red while the rest of his eyes are white. The most notable feature of this Pokémon is the green onion-like bulb on its back.

"What the hell is HE doing here?!" Ash yelled angrily.

Ash glared at Bulbasaur, he had always thought Bulbasaur was one of his most loyal Pokémon. He had trusted him to look after the Pokémon living at Oaks' ranch and thought that he would stand by him no matter what but he too had betrayed him. Ash knew that had his mother and Ariana not been here he would have gone ballistic however the longer he looked at Bulbasaur the angrier he got and he was only just controlling his rage.

Ariana saw that Ash was getting angry so she grabbed his arm and watched his gaze soften as he looked at her, she was one of the few things that could calm Ash in an instant.

"Ash you promised me and mum that you'd hear him out first. Riolu spoke with Bulbasaur and told me what happened so please just listen to what he has to say."

Ash sighed as he felt his anger die down, he did promise them that he'd hear what the Pokémon had to say and he kept his promises.

"I'm glad that you've finally mastered how to communicate with Riolu, I'm proud of you Ariana."

Ariana smiled at Ash who looked at Bulbasaur and let out another sigh, as much as he didn't want to he would listen to the grass type.

"Fine I'll listen to him but it better be a damn good reason. If it's not, I'll get Charizard and let me tell you he'd love a reunion with you."

'Ash if you don't think my reason is good enough I will gladly stand here and let Charizard roast me.'

"Okay I'm listening."

'Well this is what happened...'

* * *

Flashback (A few hours before Ash arrived home after the Sinnoh League)

At Professor Oak's lab Bulbasaur was in the corral as usual. He took his role of leadership seriously and he looked over the corral making sure that everything was fine, however he suddenly felt the weight of a certain bug on his back. In one of his less diplomatic moments he had hit Heracross with a Solar Beam to stop him sucking the sap from his bulb again. Bulbasaur wished he would stop but knew that he wouldn't no matter how many Vine Whips, Razor Leaf's or Solar Beam's he hit Heracross with.

But today nothing could get him down he'd heard from one of Professor Oaks' calls that May was in town which meant she'd bring back his mate. He also knew Ash would be back soon and he couldn't wait to see his trainer again. Although he relished his role here he had to admit that there were many times that he missed traveling with Ash.

Bulbasaur then saw all of Ash's travel companions that had accompanied over the years coming into the corral. He walked to them and they asked him to round up all Ash's Pokémon, he nodded and went off to find everyone. When they were all gathered they looked expectedly at Ash's friends wondering what they wanted. It wasn't unusual for their trainers' friends to talk with them however Bulbasaur could tell that something was different today.

"Attention all of you. We've all decided to tell Ash that he should give up training since he clearly has no idea what he's doing." Misty declared.

Bulbasaur couldn't believe what he was hearing, he knew that something was wrong but he never expected this. These people were supposed to be Ash's friends and here they are berating him.

"We know you are all very powerful but you are being wasted by Ash. We swear that if you to come with us we will help you reach you full potential." Brock added.

Bulbasaur looked around and to his shock he saw that most of Ash's Pokémon nodding. He could tell that a couple of Ash's more timid Pokémon looked unsure of what to do possibly due to fear of what will happen if they don't side with the majority. Charizard, Donphan, Bayleef, Totodile, Sceptile and Infernape on the hand looked absolutely furious. Bulbasaur looked at Ash's so called friends and shook his head, he would not betray his friend like that, not after everything they had been through together.

The human's watched Bulbasaur's reaction and then looked at May knowing that she held the key to getting Bulbasaur to side with them. The Coordinator from Hoenn took a Pokéball out and sent out her Bulbasaur. Although he was still furious at Ash's so called friends he couldn't stop a smile coming to his face as he saw his mate. Bulbasaur started walking towards his mate but then May stood between them. Bulbasaur growled angrily at May who knelt down in front of her.

"She's going to have your child. So if you don't do as we say you'll never see her or your child." May whispered.

Bulbasaur eyes widened as he was given such a heart rending choice, he was torn between his friendship with Ash and his love for his mate and the child she was carrying. After a few minutes of internal debate, he hung his head in shame and reluctantly nodded showing he understood and agreed to their terms. Charizard roared in anger and disbelief that Bulbasaur had chosen to betray Ash after everything they had been through.

Bulbasaur looked at the humans and saw the evil grins plastered on most of their faces, he couldn't believe that these were the same people that travelled with Ash. He watched as they left the corral and gradually the Pokémon fled to their own parts of the corral not wanting to be near Charizard, Bayleef, Donphan, Totodile, Sceptile and Infernape. Eventually the only Pokémon left were Bulbasaur and the six Pokémon that were standing by Ash. Charizard, Bayleef, Donphan, Totodile, Sceptile and Infernape were all glaring at Bulbasaur.

'Guys I'm sorry but you have to understand she's my mate.' Bulbasaur pleaded.

'Save it for someone who cares, traitor.' Charizard snarled.

'I always respected the loyalty and dedication you showed, but now I have no respect for you at all.' Bayleef snapped.

'I used to look up to you Bulbasaur, you were like my brother. Now you disgust me.' Donphan growled.

'Ash has done everything in his power to help us and you've just left him for that whores Bulbasaur. You're pathetic.' Totodile added.

'You have no honour.' Sceptile said.

'I may not have known you as long as the others but I always thought loyalty was the most important thing to you. It seems I misjudged you.' Infernape said in a disappointed tone.

Bulbasaur felt tears prick his eyes at their biting comments because they were all true. He had just thrown away all of the self-respect and honour he had. The six Pokémon that had chosen to stand by Ash started walking away leaving Bulbasaur all alone. Now Bulbasaur let the tears he had kept in flow and they trickled down his cheeks.

Later that day Bulbasaur did as he was told and stood with the other's that had chosen to betray Ash. He nodded along with them and added his own fake glare and growl at the person he respected more than anyone else. He watched as Ash flew away on Charizard with tears in his eyes and Bulbasaur had never felt more ashamed in his life.

End flashback

* * *

'I later learned that they had been lying to me all along. Bulbasaur wasn't going to have my child, she had been in on it the whole time but by the time I found out it was too late, you were gone.' Bulbasaur went silent.

Ash looked at his first grass type and could see the guilt in his eyes but could he risk trusting his again? He kept his focussed on his old friend and remembered all the adventure's they'd shared, the battles they'd won and the friends they'd made. He knew had this been a few weeks ago he would have still been angry, he had no doubt that right now he would have had a barbequed Bulbasaur. However now that he was with Anabel he understood why Bulbasaur did what he did.

As much as he hated to admit it if he had been forced to choose between someone and the love of his life he'd have done the same as Bulbasaur. So Ash knelt down to Bulbasaur's level, the grass type flinched and looked away not wanting to see the anger and hatred in Ash's eyes. He'd heard that Ash had mastered his Aura capabilities over the past seven years and Bulbasaur was expecting some form of Aura attack to be launched his way. But he knew he deserved whatever punishment Ash dealt him, he was prepared to pay for his betrayal. Bulbasaur let out a surprised gasp as he felt Ash wrap his arms around him, he looked up at Ash and the same smile he had given him all those years ago was on the young man's face.

"I understand why you turned against me, I forgive you Bulbasaur although the other's may not do so as easily though especially Charizard. I'll be honest he'd already prepared a space in hell for you."

Bulbasaur wasn't surprised by what Ash said and nodded knowing that they would probably never forgive him for what he did. But he was determined to do whatever it took to earn their friendship and respect back no matter what.

"Ok I'm going to return you now. I promise we'll catch up later."

Ash returned Bulbasaur and looked happily at his Pokéball, Bulbasaur's betrayal had hurt him the most (apart from the rat's) because he'd always thought he was one of his most loyal Pokémon. Now that he knew the truth Ash was glad he now had him back, Bulbasaur had always been a dependable Pokémon and he knew he would get the others forgiveness eventually.

Ariana and Delia looked on happy that Ash had forgiven the grass type. They had both spent time with Bulbasaur for several weeks and they knew he was ashamed of what he'd done to Ash and wanted to make amends.

Ash placed Bulbasaur's Pokéball on his belt just as the doors to the Pokémon centre opened, Ash looked to the door and saw Richie and Sparky with worried looks on their faces.

"We saw everything on the television, how's Pidgeot?"

"I don't know yet. I really am worried about her; those collars are bad news."

Richie nodded as he had heard the stories of what the collars had done to Pokémon He then saw Delia and he shared a look with Sparky, they both nodded and now had a devious look on their faces as they looked to Delia and then to Ash.

"Hey Ash I was talking to Scott about finishing the Battle Frontier after this tournament. So far I have five symbols, Scott keeps saying that I could fight Brandon for the Ability Symbol and the Brave Symbol. But I keep refusing him, you see I really want to beat the Salon Maiden first."

Richie paused and watched Ash's eyes widen as realised where he was going with this.

"Please Richie don't do it. I beg of you." Ash pleaded.

"So Ash do you think you can ask your girlfriend to have a battle with me for the Ability Symbol?"

Richie and Sparky burst out laughing at the look of horror on Ash's face, they had been waiting for a time to stitch up their friend and this was the perfect opportunity.

"Aw my Ash has a girlfriend; you have to tell me everything about her. Is it Anabel? I know you fell in love with her when you were younger."

The look of horror on Ash's face had now intensified as his mother started bombarding him with questions. The question got more and more embarrassing, which only made Richie, Sparky and Ariana laugh even more. It eventually became too much for Ash when his mother once again made a certain comment about his underwear.

"MUM!" Ash yelled feeling absolutely mortified.

Everyone laughed at the embarrassed trainer, who had raised his hood and was practically hiding in his cloak. Ash muttered a few curses under his breath directed mostly at Richie for causing him to be so embarrassed, he swore that he'd get even with him and while his loved ones continued to laugh he had already started plotting his revenge.

* * *

Notes

Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

What Richie did to Ash is pretty much an exact replica of what I did to a friend of mine back in school – I'll never forget the look on his face when his mother started asking several very embarrassing questions.

Next time we'll have some Manaphy cuteness and Ariana's backstory.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.


	15. Memories & Coordinators

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

If you read the original version of this story and have any questions, PM them to me so we don't spoil anything for the new readers.

Well it looks like we have a winner for who will be paired with Richie, after 38 votes one lucky lady ended up in the lead although it was very close. I won't reveal who won though, you'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 12, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

"- Telepathy/Aura

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Eventually the laughing in the Pokémon Centre died down and they were all now waiting anxious to hear about Pidgeot's condition. Ash suddenly jumped up from his seat when he saw Nurse Joy walking out one of the recovery rooms. He approached her praying that Pidgeot would be alright but had this nagging doubt at the back of his mind telling him that something was wrong.

"So how is she? Is she going to be okay?" Ash asked frantically.

"Well she will need some surgery around the area the collar was, there is some severe damage to her neck muscles due to it being worn for so many years. However, she should be fine, I couldn't find any life threatening injuries and once she heals from her surgery there should be no permanent damage. If you come back for her in a few days' time she'll be ready to leave."

Ash let out a massive sigh of relief, he had been preparing himself for the worst so he was over the moon to hear that the damage was minimal. He'd seen those collars cause a lot of damage and was worried that Pidgeot could have suffered some neurological damage. Ash thanked Nurse Joy repeatedly and then began walking back to the other's.

"Wait I forgot to mention that all the competitors have a week off." Nurse Joy said.

"Why?" Ash asked.

He couldn't think of a valid reason to take a break when they aren't even half way through the tournament yet.

"Because of the special event being held to promote Co-ordinating. You see over the past few years coordinating has become less popular and there are not a lot of new faces are appearing. So the six best coordinators in the world are having a tag team match to hopefully inspire younger trainers to become coordinators."

"So who are the top six coordinators and who have they been partnered with?" Richie asked.

"The teams are May, Drew and Harley against Ursula, Zoey and Nando."

"That's odd I expected Solidad to be one of the top six." Ash replied.

"Solidad was but she retired a couple of years ago which could be an explanation for the sudden lack of new coordinators. She was an inspiration to so many people but after she won all four Grand Festivals she decided to step aside to allow others to shine." Ariana stated.

"Well if Solidad's won all of them I guess her retiring makes sense. It's a shame they couldn't coax her out of retirement for one more match though." Ash said.

Suddenly the doors to the Pokémon centre opened, Ash turned to look who it was when a small blue Pokémon slammed into him. Ash looked down at the Pokémon in his arms and smiled at the little blue Pokémon. Manaphy looked back with her dark blue eyes and a smile on her face. Anabel and Dawn then walked through the door and smiled at the scene.

"Papa." Manaphy said lovingly.

"Hi Manaphy." Ash said as he gave Manaphy a hug.

"Love you papa."

"Love you too Manaphy."

Ash placed Manaphy in one arm and wrapped his other around Anabel who returned the embrace making sure not to crush Manaphy between them. They eventually broke apart much to Manaphy's displeasure as she liked being held by her mama and papa. Ash then led Anabel to his mother.

"Anabel there's a couple of people I want you to meet. Anabel, this my mother Delia Ketchum. Mum this is Anabel she's my girlfriend."

"Hello it's nice to finally meet you Mrs Ketchum." Anabel said politely

"Please call me Delia and it's nice to meet you too."

Ash then looked at Ariana who was hiding behind his mother's legs which didn't surprise him, she was a little skittish so it was understandable.

"This is my little sister Ariana; she's a bit shy so don't be offended if she shies away from you at first."

Anabel walked over to the young girl and knelt down allowing Ariana to make the next move. She knew that initiating anything could frighten Ash's sister and she didn't want to scare her so she would take things at Ariana's pace.

Ariana stood still for a moment before studying the woman in front of her, after a few moments she walked out from behind Delia and then went to Anabel with a smile on her face and hugged her. Although she usually was shy with people she figured that if Ash was in love with Anabel then there is nothing to be afraid of.

Ash was happy to see Ariana not being shy around Anabel, she usually was with other's when she first met them. He remembered her hiding behind him the first time she met Richie and he was sure that she was probably still terrified of Paul.

"I didn't think you had a sister Ash." Anabel said.

"Well Ariana isn't a sister by blood. Um it's kind of hard to explain without telling you the full story."

"Okay so how did you two meet?" Anabel asked.

Ash looked at Ariana and saw that the memories of that day were now on her mind, he hated seeing her reliving the events of that day so he passed Manaphy to Anabel and took Sceptile's Pokéball off his belt.

"Sceptile come on out."

The gecko Pokémon appeared and was instantly hugged by Ariana, Sceptile quickly hugged the young girl and then lifted her onto his shoulders which drew a giggle from her.

"Hey Sceptile can you take mum and Ariana to the clearing?"

'Of course Ash.' Sceptile replied.

"Thanks." Ash said.

Sceptile kept Ariana on his shoulders as he left the Pokémon Centre with Delia by his side. Anabel watched the trio until they faded from view and looked at Ash who had a disheartened look on his face.

"Ash why did you make your mother and Ariana leave?" Anabel queried.

"The thing is it is a very sad story. It was a very traumatic day for Ariana which always take her to a very dark place when she's reminded of it so that's why I wanted them to leave. Anyway this is what happened..."

* * *

Flashback (5 years ago)

Ash had just started gathering information on Team Rocket so that he could take them down. He was currently in Sinnoh searching around the Mt Coronet area. So far he had discovered a small outpost so it seemed logical to him that a base must be somewhere in the area. After about an hour of searching Ash found what appeared to be the entrance to a facility. Ash still found it amazing how much influence Team Rocket had in Sinnoh. He had always assumed that they had only operated in Kanto and Johto but his travels had proven that they were a far greater threat than anyone thought.

He stood watching the guards patrol route for half an hour and spotted an obvious gap where he could sneak through. As he was about to execute the plan he heard screams coming from the east. He couldn't ignore the terror filled screams and ran towards the source. He stopped in a clearing where he saw a young girl who could be no more than six running from a couple of Team Rocket grunts. The girl suddenly stumbled and fell to the floor. She tried to crawl away but one of the grunts grabbed her and picked her up.

"Sorry kid it's nothing personal but we can't have you telling someone about what happened."

The grunt pulled out a knife and was about to stab the young girl until an Aura Sphere slammed into his gut sending him crashing back into a tree. The other grunt looked to where the attack had come from and spotted Ash. The grunt ignored the girl and now aimed a gun at Ash who shot forward and hit the grunt with an Aura infused punch that sent him crashing into his buddy knocking both of them out. Ash ran over to the girl who was now in the fetal position and sobbing uncontrollably. He knelt down next to the girl and pulled her into a hug.

"Hey calm down. I've dealt with the bad men. They won't hurt you now."

The girl sobbed into his shirt but after a few minutes her sobs lessened.

"Why were those men chasing you." Ash asked gently

"T-they k-k-killed my m-mummy and d-daddy. I saw them h-hurting Pokémon so I-I ran home to tell my parents. The b-bad men followed me and broke our door down. My daddy told to run so I did." the girl said between sobs.

"What's your name?" He asked

"M-my n-n-name is Ariana."

"Do you have any family or friends I can take you to?"

She just shook her head and started sobbing into his shirt again. Ash sighed sadly as he had no idea what to do with the girl now, if she was right and had no other family he really had nowhere to take her. His only hope was to check out her house and hope that he could find something. Ash took Charizard, Flygon, Gardevoir, Luxray and Absol's Pokéballs out and sent them out. The Pokémon looked sadly at the sobbing girl wondering what happened.

"Can you guys protect this girl while I'm gone. I'll explain the situation later."

The Pokémon nodded more than willing to protect and comfort the girl, Ash was relieved to have the help of his Pokémon and knelt down next to Ariana again.

"Stay here with my Pokémon I'll go check out your house and see if I can find anything. Which way is your house?"

She pointed to the east not trusting her voice.

"Ok I'll be back soon."

It only took a couple of minutes to find the house which was actually a small farm. Ash walked in through the now destroyed door and looked around. He saw the bodies of what he assumed were Ariana's parents on the floor with multiple stab wounds in them. Ash walked over to them and found that the father was still alive. Ash knelt down next to the man.

"Are you Ariana's father?"

"Y-yes. How is Ari-Ariana?" the man asked as he coughed up some blood.

Ash knew the man was dying and it was obvious by the look in the mans' eyes that he knew it too, so Ash didn't waste time telling him to save his strength.

"She's safe. I dealt with the Team Rocket grunts who were chasing her."

Ash watched a relieved smile form on the mans' face and then saw the man trying to reach out to his wife but she was just too far away. Ash got up and gently picked up the mans' wife and placed her down next to him. The man grabbed her hand with his and held it as tight as he could.

"P-please take c-care of Ari. W-we were the only f-family she had."

"I promise I'll watch over her."

"T-thank you." the man took his last breath and death finally took him.

Ash closed the man and his wife's eyes.

"Rest in peace and may your Aura lead you to a better place." he murmured.

Ash started searching for anything Ariana might want to take with her. He was stood in Ariana's room and spotted a photo of her and her parents smiling. He took the photo as she would want something to remember them by. He also spotted a Riolu doll on her bed and decided to take that too just in case she wanted it. Ash managed to find out Ariana's parents' names as he searched for anything. When he was done searching he went out back and found a shovel so that he could at least give Ariana's parents a proper burial.

Ash piled the last bit of earth on to the grave he had dug. He had chosen to bury them together as Mark had taken his last breath with Catherine's hand in his. Ash put the tombstone he had made out of a boulder in front of the grave. Ash looked at the tombstone he had made and knew that it wasn't perfect but it was the best he could do. Maybe one day Ariana could come and choose something more fitting for her parents.

Here lies Mark and Catherine Williams.

Mother and father of Ariana.

They were loving parents who were taken before their time.

"I promise I'll make sure your daughter is kept safe." Ash murmured.

Ash picked up the items he had taken from the house and walked back to where he had left Ariana and his Pokémon He walked into the clearing and saw Gardevoir cuddling the now sleeping Ariana. Ash returned all of his Pokémon except Gardevoir and took Ariana from her.

"Gardevoir Teleport us to my mother's house please."

She nodded and placed her hand on Ash's shoulder then in a flash of light the trio then appeared in front of his mother's house.

"Thank you Gardevoir." Ash said as he returned her.

Ash knocked on the door hoping his mother was home, if she wasn't he'd have to take her somewhere else and he really had nowhere else that was safe to take her. Thankfully the door opened and Ash was relieved to see that it was his mum.

"Hello Ash who's this?" Delia whispered.

"It's a long story. Can we put her to bed first and then I'll explain everything?"

Delia nodded and walked upstairs towards the spare room, she opened the door to the spare room and Ash placed Ariana on the bed, pulling the covers over her. The mother and son then went downstairs to let Ariana get some peaceful sleep. They sat on the sofa and Ash told the whole story of what had happened to his mum who was shocked at what she had heard.

"So mum can she stay here?"

"Of course she can. I'll do the best I can to raise her when you're not here."

"Thank you."

Ariana then walked into the living room holding her Riolu doll and froze when she saw Ash sitting on the sofa, realisation then kicked in and fell to her knees as tears started trickling down her cheeks. Ash immediately got up and pulled the young girl into a hug.

"I-I thought it was just a n-nightmare." she whimpered.

"I'm so sorry Ariana but it wasn't a nightmare. When I went to your house I promised your father that I would take care of you and I will. This is my mum and she will be here for you too."

Ash let go of Ariana and watched as his mother wasted no time in bringing Ariana into a tight hug, Ariana clung on to Delia and cried herself to sleep.

Flashback end

* * *

"I stayed for about a week after that so she could get used to me and mum, but then I had to go and continue my quest to destroy Team Rocket. I returned home a couple of months later when I had finished searching Sinnoh and mum told me that Ariana had only just stopped having nightmares."

Richie and Sparky had heard the story before but it still made them just as mad as it did the first time, both had their fists clenched and wished that they had gotten to help defeat Team Rocket. Anabel and Dawn on the other hand were on the verge of tears feeling incredibly sorry for Ariana.

"When she was eight she started calling us mum and brother. She said it was because we had been her family since she started living with us so it felt right for her to call us mum and brother."

Everyone was silent as they thought of what had happened to Ariana. As they stood in silence Ash looked at Bulbasaur's Pokéball and decided he'd better go tell the other's about what had happened. He just hoped Charizard wouldn't kill him although he was almost certain that the dragon would do something.

"Guys I'm going to go take Bulbasaur to see the other's." Ash announced.

"When did you get Bulbasaur back? And why would you take him back?" Richie asked in confusion.

"Mum and Ariana brought him here to me and the short version is he only betrayed me because the traitors threatened to part him from his mate who they said was pregnant but actually wasn't."

"Wow those guys really are scum to lie about something like that. Well I guess I can understand Bulbasaur's reasoning although we both know that Paul probably won't."

"Yeah you're right. I'll see you later Richie."

Ash, Anabel and Dawn then left the Pokémon Centre and headed back towards the clearing with Manaphy sat sleeping in Anabel's arms. On the way Ash fully explained what had happened with Bulbasaur to Anabel who understood just as Ash had why Bulbasaur did what he did. When they reached the clearing Ash saw his mother and Ariana, the former was sat down talking with Meowth and Cinccino and the latter was playing with Meganium, Glaceon and Heliolisk. Ash took Bulbasaur's Pokéball off his belt and was about to send him out when he realised something.

"Hey Dawn you haven't introduced your Pokémon to ours yet." Ash said.

"Well I wasn't sure how all of your Pokémon would react to seeing them." Dawn replied.

"They'll be fine trust me."

Dawn wasn't sure but she trusted Ash so she sent out all of her Pokémon who immediately went over to Infernape as they recognised him. Dawn watched anxiously as Infernape stared at them, she let out a relieved sigh as she saw the fire monkey start introducing her Pokémon to everyone.

"See I told you they'd be fine. Our Pokémon have no ill-feelings towards your Pokémon as they didn't... you know."

Ash always made sure not to say anything about betrayal while Dawn was around as there was always a very guilty look on her face if he did.

"Hey shouldn't you be introducing them to Bulbasaur?" Dawn replied.

Ash could see the deliberate attempt to change the subject and was more than happy to go with it.

"Yeah you're right. Hey everyone can you come here please?"

All of the Pokémon in the clearing got up and crowded around Ash wondering what was so important.

"Listen everyone there is someone you need to see. Now before you do anything just listen to his story, I've forgiven him but I don't expect you too straight away."

Ash threw Bulbasaur's Pokéball revealing the grass type to his family. To say all the Pokémon looked pissed would be an understatement, the angriest by far was Charizard who had his murder face on and it was taking all of his will power to not Blast Burn the traitor in front of him into oblivion. Bulbasaur saw the intense glares being sent at him and knew that he deserved them, part of him wanted to leave but instead he stood his ground in determination. He told everyone the story of what happened that day, they could see by the look in his eyes that everything he was saying was true and that he was ashamed of what he'd done.

Luxray, Absol, Glaceon, Flygon, Espeon, Gengar, Froslass Gallade and Gardevoir immediately got up and stood by him. They all understood the position he'd been put in and knew that he had no choice so they stood between him and the rest of the Pokémon showing that they supported him and would protect him. Charizard growled angrily at those who were siding with Bulbasaur and glared at them all, astonished that they were standing by the traitor.

'How can you all side with that traitor so easily? I've had a mate but I would have never give up what I have with Ash for her no matter what. Well unlike all of you I know where my loyalties lie, Ash may have forgiven the traitor but you can be damn sure I won't be any time soon.'

The other's grumbled agreeing with Charizard and walked away also swearing that they wouldn't forgive Bulbasaur that easily. Ash was saddened to see his Pokémon divided by this but knew that in time this would work out.

"Well that went better than expected. I thought I was going to have to explain to Nurse Joy why I have an incinerated Bulbasaur."

Ash looked to Bulbasaur who he could tell was surprised that anyone had stood by him, he could also see that the grass type was saddened by the words of Charizard. Bulbasaur quickly brushed the comments aside though, he knew he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to regain their respect and hopefully their friendship and moping about what they had said wouldn't help him achieve his goal. Ash knelt down and placed a comforting hand on the grass types' bulb which made Bulbasaur look up at Ash.

"Listen they'll come around eventually, it'll just take a little time. Although I would recommend you stay away from Charizard for the time being."

Bulbasaur nodded, he believed what Ash had said and decided that it would be best for him to get on good terms with those who had supported him. The mated pairs and Flygon escorted Bulbasaur to a safer part of the clearing so they could talk and keep him safe, many of them shooting worried glances in Charizard's direction. Ash watched on just hoping that the others would forgive Bulbasaur as he had done. Although he knew that Meganium, Donphan, Totodile, Sceptile, Infernape, Meowth and especially Charizard would struggle to forgive him.

"Hey Ash I think it's best if we leave them for now. It might give the other's some time to think." Anabel suggested.

"Yeah I think you are right Anabel. The five of us can spend some time together." Ash replied.

They left their Pokémon in the clearing hoping they would calm down and maybe even begin forgiving Bulbasaur. The rest of the day consisted of Ash introducing Dawn to Ariana and the trio basically chatted while Delia and Anabel spent the time getting to know each other. When night came they went to their individual hotel's to rest. Dawn was relieved to find out that Ariana and Delia were staying in the Elenion too so she wasn't alone.

* * *

The next day Ash went to the Pokémon centre hoping Nurse Joy would let him see Pidgeot just to see how she was feeling after the surgery. Anabel had come with him and was holding the sleeping Manaphy in her arms. When they entered the Pokémon Centre Ash saw a pair of coordinators who he had gotten very close too shortly after the betrayal.

"Hey Ursula, Zoey." He called out.

They'd met Ash a few months after the betrayal when they were travelling around Sinnoh training together in preparation for future contests. One day Ursula spotted Ash and thought it was odd seeing him on his own so they approached him and they began talking. He told them what had happened and it infuriated them both that they had turned their backs on Ash, Zoey was especially disappointed in Dawn. They spent a few days together and gradually Ash saw the two of them as far better friends than the ones who had betrayed him had ever been. After parting ways', they promised that they would keep in touch with each other regularly which they gladly did and over time they were as close as siblings.

"It's great to see you both. How have you both been?"

"Hi Ash we've both been doing well. I won the Sinnoh Grand Festival a few months back while Ursula won the Hoenn Grand Festival." Zoey replied.

"Yeah we've been great and now we're here to crush that bitch May, her tosser boyfriend Drew and that freak Harley." Ursula added.

"I'd heard that you two were in that match tomorrow. Make sure you pummel them for me."

"Oh believe me I will." Ursula said in a sinister voice.

Zoey's Pokénav then starting ringing, she took it out of her pocket and saw that it was the third member of their team, Nando.

"Hey Nando where are you?" Zoey asked politely.

Silence was the only response they got which was making Ursula angrier by the second, eventually it became too much for her and she took Zoey's Pokénav and glared at the screen.

"You were in this damn tournament and now you've vanished. So where the hell are you?!" Ursula yelled.

"I apologise ladies but I shan't be competing alongside you tomorrow." Nando replied in a very unapologetic tone.

"What the hell are you talking about? This is a crucial contest battle to prove why more people should get into coordinating. So why the hell are you not going to be here for it?" Ursula yelled.

"I am sorry but my Pokémon are far too injured after their last match in the tournament and they need time to rest up. My opponent was not happy with my tactics and went a little overboard."

Ash knew that was a lie, he had seen the battle and Richie had not gone overboard at all. If anything he had been soft on Nando despite his cowardly tactics. Ash was brought back to reality by Ursula yelling again however he noticed that a lot of the fight Ursula had was suddenly gone and the optimistic smile on Zoey's face had faded.

"You're a fucking liar I saw that battle so I know you're talking shit." Ursula replied.

"Now miss Ursula I must disagree with you…" Nando started.

"Piss off you fucking coward."

Ursula hung up the phone before Nando could reply to her. Ash looked sadly at his coordinating friends and watched as Zoey sighed with a look of resignation on her face while Ursula looked furious and slammed her hands on a table.

"Damn it, there is no way we can get someone else out here for tomorrow. Nando has royally fucked us and the world of coordinating over." Ursula growled.

"You can't have handicap matches in coordinating so we'll have to forfeit the match and that'll be the beginning of the end for coordinating." Zoey uttered sadly.

Ash on the other hand was elated by the news, he'd been struggling to come up with a way to get his revenge on May but thanks to Nando he had been gifted an easy way to make May pay for her actions. He did wonder why Nando really didn't want to compete though but that was something to figure out later.

"Hey you two I have an idea, you see I've done a few contests in the past and well since the tournament is postponed I'm free tomorrow."

"I was hoping you would say that." Ursula said.

* * *

Notes

Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Here's a clue for the winner of the poll – it's either Zoey or Ursula.

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.


	16. Crushing the Coordinators

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

If you read the original version of this story and have any questions, PM them to me so we don't spoil anything for the new readers.

This chapter took a bit longer due to the addition of Zoey, the removal of an OC and me rewriting huge chunks of this chapter. I'm pretty sure I rewrote at least 75% of this chapter and I'll be completely honest and say that I am still not that happy with the contest battle. I edited it a few times and this was the best one I could do, I much prefer standard battles and making this a three against three contest battle didn't make this any easier.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 13, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

"- Telepathy/Aura

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

While Ash, Ursula and Zoey were discussing how best to humiliate May, Drew and Harley in the contest battle, Anabel spotted Nurse Joy come out from the recovery rooms. She tapped Ash on the shoulder to get attention and as soon as he saw the nurse all talks of the contest battle tomorrow were immediately stopped and they all walked over to Nurse Joy.

"Good morning Nurse Joy." Ash said

"Hello, I presume you are here to see Pidgeot."

"Yes I am. How did the surgery go?" Ash asked.

"The surgery went very well, it actually better than I expected in all honesty. I was sure there would be some major complications but luckily there were only a couple of minor problems that we dealt with. She is resting now but you can see her if you want."

Ash was about to answer when the doors to the Pokémon Centre opened. Ash, Anabel, Ursula and Zoey looked to see who it was and saw Max, May, Rudy, Drew, Tracey, Brock and Gary. Ash, Ursula and Zoey returned the glares that they were throwing at them while Anabel avoided their glares and focused on Manaphy. May saw that Anabel was gazing at something and then spotted the sleeping Manaphy sat in Anabel's arms.

"Manaphy." May squealed.

The loud, shrill noise woke Manaphy up and scared the young Pokémon to tears. Anabel gently rocked Manaphy while making calming sounds which quickly calmed Manaphy down and she snuggled into Anabel's embrace.

"Mama." Manaphy whispered happily.

Ash and May were the only ones other than Anabel who heard what Manaphy had said. The former smiled and the later stood there in shock but shook it off assuming that she must have heard wrong. May then reached out to take Manaphy from Anabel but the Salon Maiden backed away shielding Manaphy from May.

"Give her to me right now!" May screamed.

Manaphy started crying again at May's screaming, the loud noise terrifying the young Pokémon. Anabel tightened her grip on Manaphy and tried to comfort her once again, eventually Manaphy stopped crying thanks to Anabel who turned to May and glared at her.

"I'll never give her to you." Anabel said defiantly

May growled angrily at Anabel's defiance and glared at her, the look frightened Manaphy who immediately jumped out of Anabel's arms and into her papa's. Anabel and May turned their attention to Manaphy who had buried her face in Ash's shirt.

"Papa, May is scary." Manaphy mumbled.

Ash sighed as he heard those words, he knew now that any hope of secrecy was gone. He watched his former friends as Manaphy's words sank in to the traitors. It was obvious that none of them could believe that the man who had been humiliating them since the start of this tournament was actually Ash.

"Well I guess there's no point in hiding now." Ash said as he lowered his hood.

The traitors were stunned to see that it was indeed Ash, most of them wondered how he had managed to become so powerful while a few of them wondered why they hadn't made the connection in the first place. Max was the first to recover from the shock and stormed over to Ash and Anabel sending a glared at them.

"You have no right to keep Manaphy from May. She's Manaphy's mother." Max said.

"Really? Well how about we let Manaphy decided." Ash gave Manaphy a tight hug.

"Ok Manaphy go to mama." Ash said softly.

"Ok papa."

May opened her arms expecting Manaphy to jump straight to her just like she had when they were younger but she was heartbroken when she saw Manaphy go back to Anabel. Anabel cradled Manaphy and gently placed a kiss on her forehead which made Manaphy giggle happily.

"Love you mama." Manaphy whispered.

"You poisoned little Manaphy's mind into believing that you're her mother didn't you? You'll pay for that you bitch." May growled.

May raised her hand and went to slap Anabel however, Ash grabbed May's wrist before she could make contact. May looked at Ash and the intense glare he was sending at her was terrifying.

"You will never say or do anything to Anabel or else you will suffer a fate worse than death." Ash said darkly as his eyes glowed blue.

He tightened his grip just enough for it to start hurting, May winced and tried to pull her arm away but she couldn't escape Ash's grip. Ash smirked at her pointless attempts to break free and then released her arm which made May stumble and hit the ground hard. Max quickly helped his sister to her feet who was focussed on Manaphy, tears welled up in May's eyes as she watched Manaphy look at Anabel so lovingly.

"Please Manaphy it's me May. I'm your mama not her." May pleaded.

"No you hurt papa. You no mama." Manaphy replied.

The tears in May's eyes now trickled down her face and she placed a hand over her heart as she felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness and sorrow. It was too much for May and she ran out of the Pokémon Centre quickly followed by the other's. She ran all the way back to her hotel room and locked the door, she placed her back to the door and slid to the ground as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. She could hear Max and the other's banging on the door trying to get her to open up but she just ignored them and continued sobbing at the pain she was being subjected too.

* * *

After May had charged out of the Pokémon Centre Ash and Anabel went towards the room Pidgeot was recovering in. They had offered Ursula and Zoey to join them but they chose to stay in the reception area while their Pokémon were healed. Ash and Anabel walked into the recovery room Pidgeot was in and saw her sleeping peacefully which was a great relief for Ash. They sat down next to the bed and quietly waited for her to wake up.

As they sat by Pidgeot's side there was something that had been bothering Ash and since they had nothing else to do now was as good a time as any to ask. Ash turned Manaphy around so she was looking at him and couldn't but smile at the love in Manaphy's eyes.

"Manaphy I am really happy that you are here. But why did you come here?" Ash asked.

"Missed papa. Wanted to meet mama." Manaphy replied.

"I thought you were needed at the Sea Temple though."

"They saw I sad. Told me to go to papa."

"Do you have to go back?" Anabel asked.

"Nope, I stay with mama and papa forever." Manaphy said happily.

Anabel and Ash smiled at Manaphy who looked at her mama and papa in adoration, she smiled as her papa gave her a hug and then he gave her to mama who did the same.

"Love you mama and papa." Manaphy said as she drifted off to sleep in Anabel's arms.

"We love you too Manaphy." Ash and Anabel whispered.

Their attention was drawn away from Manaphy when they heard a groan and saw Pidgeot waking up. Ash started gently stroking her crest which made Pidgeot sigh in content.

"Hey Pidgeot how are you?" Ash asked worriedly

'Tired and my neck's a bit sore.' Pidgeot murmured.

"Well if you take it easy and rest up you'll hopefully be out of here tomorrow."

'Sounds good to me.' Pidgeot then saw Anabel sat next to Ash. 'Who's that?'

"This is Anabel. She's my girlfriend." Ash said with a smile.

'What happened to the young boy that only cared about Pokémon?' Pidgeot said with a chuckle.

"He grew up and found the love of his life." Ash replied.

Ash then gazed at Anabel lovingly, the combination of Ash's words and the way he was now looking at her made Anabel blush. Ash then leant forward and gently pressed his lips to Anabel's. Pidgeot watched the scene happy that her trainer had found someone he truly loves. The noble birds' eyes suddenly started feeling heavy and she succumbed to sleep again.

Ash and Anabel broke apart when they then heard the sound of soft snores coming from Pidgeot and after taking one last look at her Ash and Anabel left Pidgeot to rest. They walked back into the reception area and saw Ursula and Zoey grooming Plusle, Minun and Glameow. Ursula was the first to spot Ash and walked over to him.

"Come on Ash let's go. I know we'll crush May and Drew but I'd like a little bit of practice first." Ursula said irritated.

"Ok calm down Ursula. Follow us back to where my Pokémon are and we can practice for tomorrow."

After thanking Nurse joy again for taking care of Pidgeot Ash and Anabel led Ursula and Zoey to the clearing so they could start preparing for their contest battle tomorrow.

* * *

The following morning Ash, Ursula and Zoey entered the stadium and went into the locker room waiting to be called in. Ursula and Zoey had chosen to wear contest outfits that were similar to the ones they had worn during the Sinnoh Grand Festival when Ash had travelled with Dawn. Ash on other hand had chosen against wearing some form of contest suit but was debating on whether or not he should reveal his identity to the world. The trio sat in silence, mentally preparing themselves to crush May, Drew and Harley. They got up when they heard the announcer call their names.

"So you ready to crush them?" Ursula asked.

"Hell yeah." Ash replied.

"Remember we have to put on a good show, believe me I would love to crush them but we need to entice youngsters into becoming coordinators." Zoey said.

"We know." Ash and Ursula replied.

Ash, Ursula and Zoey left the locker room and walked towards the main stadium. When they got to the end of the tunnel they stopped, Ursula and Zoey both looked at Ash wondering whether or not he was going to let the world know who he really is. They got their answer when he lowered his hood and started walking into the stadium, they quickly followed him and walked either side of him.

A shocked gasp was made by the crowd as they saw who was walking onto the stage with Zoey and Ursula who were momentarily distracted by the crowd who had started mumbling amongst themselves. Ash on the other hand ignored the crowd and focussed on their opponents who walk on to the stage dressed in a similar fashion to what they had in their contests when Ash had travelled in Hoenn. Ash, Ursula and Zoey walked onto the stage looking focussed on the task at hand.

* * *

Up in the stands Richie was staring at the sight of Zoey in her stylised contest suit completely entranced, he briefly wondered if this was how Ash felt when he looked at Anabel. That thought quickly faded once again replaced by Zoey, he was blocking everything else out until he got an elbow to his ribs. He stopped staring at Zoey and he turned his attention to his right seeing Paul giving him an irritated look.

"Hey dumbass you're drooling."

Richie immediately wiped his sleeve across his mouth and found that he had indeed been drooling which he was instantly embarrassed by. He looked around hoping no one else had seen him and was glad to see that everyone else was focussed on the stage like he had been.

"Uh, thanks Paul."

"Rather than thanking me from stopping you looking like a dribbling idiot you should think about doing something out the one who is making act this way."

Paul turned his attention back to the stage and huffed in what Richie assumed to be annoyance as the Sinnoh trainer hated contests. Richie thought about what Paul had just said and knew that while many would have been preoccupied by the insult he knew Paul well enough to know that the insult was thrown in there to keep up his tough exterior. It was strange that Paul was giving him advice on this since it's not exactly his specialist subject.

It was moments like this where he had to admit that Paul was very difficult to understand especially if you didn't know him well which is why most people stayed clear of him. Richie on the other hand was glad that he had befriended Paul thanks to Ash.

* * *

Back on the stage May glared at Ash, she was looking forward to beating him to get revenge for him turning Manaphy against her. The six competitors met in the centre of the stage and glared at each other. May suddenly smirked and turned her gaze to Zoey.

"So I see you found a new partner. I should have waited a bit longer before I bribed Nando." May whispered.

"Why would you pay him off?" Ursula growled.

"We'd have won by default, consider it payback for what happened in the last two Grand Festivals." May replied.

"The match ending in a win by default would have killed coordinating. Are you seriously saying that you were willing to destroy coordinating just to get a cheap win over us?"

"Yep but I'm so glad you got this scum to join you. Now I get to show you both up and get revenge on Ash for turning Manaphy against me."

Ash smirked cockily in response and then turned around and walked back towards his side of the stage closely followed by Ursula and Zoey. May and Drew scowled at Ash, annoyed that he hadn't responded to their taunts but quickly shook their annoyance side and joined Harley on their side of the stage.

"Are the three of you ready to be humiliated? You don't stand a chance against us." May taunted.

"Whatever, come on let's do this. Milotic may the Aura guide us."

Ash took out the Pokéball that had a custom seal he had made. He threw the ball and it released a blue glow that momentarily illuminated the stadium. Everyone looked to the stage and saw Milotic whose skin was shimmering beautifully. Her beauty stunned everyone in the stadium and several people could be heard complementing Ash on how well he had taken care of Milotic.

Anabel could also hear the several of the females in the audience swooning over Ash. She could feel herself getting irritated and growled angrily as she heard what some would like to do with Ash. She looked at the nearest group who's clothing wasn't exactly leaving much to the imagination and glared at them but they didn't seem to notice as they were still drooling over Ash. Manaphy sensed the changed in her mama's emotions and shifted in her arms to get her attention, Anabel looked down at Manaphy and a smile came to her face.

"Mama what wrong?" Manaphy asked.

"Nothing Manaphy. Everything is fine." Anabel replied.

Manaphy seemed to accept Anabel's answer.

"Don't worry dear, my Ash only has eyes for you." Delia suddenly said.

"I know, it just makes me mad hearing them talk like that and when I look at them I just feel..."

Delia already knew what was going to come out of Anabel's mouth, she felt inadequate compared to other women. It was something that she was familiar with as when she was Anabel's age she had gone through the exact same situation. She remembered a conversation she had with her mother which had changed her opinion of herself. She placed her hand on Anabel's shoulder which gained her attention.

"Anabel you have a beautiful soul and a brilliant mind which is what Ash loves about you most and despite what you may think you are a beautiful woman. Now look at those girls back there, they are just a bunch of silicone filled bimbo's who don't have a brain cell between them and while they would not admit they are jealous of you."

A look of confusion appeared on Anabel's face as she kept looking between the scantily clad women and Delia, she couldn't think of why they would be jealous of her.

"Why would they be jealous of me?"

"Because you don't need to wear skimpy outfits to get attention and you don't need to act like someone else to be loved. Now I don't want to ever hear you belittling yourself like that again."

"Okay, thank you Delia. I really needed to hear that."

"It's okay dear."

Anabel smiled gratefully at Delia, she knew that she should be more confident about herself especially considering how often Ash complemented her and she vowed to think more positively about herself. She turned her attention back to the stage where Ursula and Zoey both had a Pokéball in their hands.

"Flareon let's win this."

"Gallade lets dazzle them."

Ursula and Zoey threw their Pokéballs, the first one burst open and a massive vortex of flames shot from it, the vortex closed and then imploded revealing Flareon and the second one had blades of psychic energy radiate from it as Gallade appeared on the stage. Milotic, Flareon and Gallade acknowledged one another and then glared at their opponents looking as focussed as their trainers. May, Drew and Harley smirked at their opponents.

"Masquerain time to dazzle them."

"Blaziken take the stage."

"Cacturne join me on stage."

May, Drew and Harley threw their Pokéballs, the two belonging to May and Drew opened and released a series of firework like explosions. The dust created by the fireworks shimmered in the light and slowly drifted to the ground landing on the stage. Harley's Cacturne on the other hand came out in a blizzard of leaves and appeared on the stage beside Blaziken and Masquerain.

"There is five minutes on the clock, begin."

"Blaziken use Fire Spin."

"Masquerain use Bubblebeam."

Blaziken shot a spiral of flames and Masquerain fired a stream of bubbles. The bubbles now surrounded the spiral of flames and it caused blue sparks to appear where the fire and water touched. This combination was what Lillian had dubbed years ago as the Fire and Water Whirlwind. Ash looked at Ursula and Zoey with a bored expression on his face.

"Are they really using that generic old technique against us?" he asked.

"Yeah they haven't really come up with anything new in the past seven years." Zoey replied.

Ash sighed feeling disappointed by the lack of innovation from their opponents, he thought May and Drew would have come up with something better than this.

"Counter Shield." Ash and Ursula instructed.

Milotic and Flareon moved in front of Gallade to block the attack. Flareon got on her back began spinning while firing a Flamethrower which sent flames into the air. At the same time Milotic fired a Hydro Pump around her which combined with Flareon's Flamethrower. The combination created a pillar of fire and water that surrounded both Flareon and Milotic. The Fire and Water Whirlwind hit the pillar making the bubbles burst and glisten on impact and they sparkled in the steam caused by the flames. Drew, May and Harley's bar went down making the coordinator's growl in frustration.

"Now Milotic use Twister to control the pillar and propel it at them." Ash said.

Milotic created a tornado that surrounded the pillar of fire and water giving Milotic control of the pillar. Milotic sent the attack towards their opponents who tried to dodge but were just a bit too slow and both took a glancing blow. The attack caused Blaziken to stumble to his knees and Masquerain almost crashed to the stage but managed to just stay in the air. May and Drew looked to the scoreboard and saw their bar decrease again.

"You two are pathetic, let me show you how it's done. Cacturne use Poison Seeds."

"Gallade slice them apart with Psycho Cut then throw the poison back with Psychic."

Cacturne opened his mouth and fired a barrage of golden seed with a purple core at Flareon and Milotic. Gallade quickly dashed in front of Milotic and his arms started to glow as he channelled psychic energy into them. As the seeds got closer Gallade started swiping with his blades slicing through the seeds which caused them to let out a series of mini explosions while the poison created a puddle of purple ooze on the battlefield.

Once the last of the seeds were destroyed, Gallade used Psychic lift the poison that had slowly been seeping into the stage and launched it at Cacturne, Blaziken and Masquerain. The bug type was able to dodge the poison easily however Cacturne and Blaziken weren't able to do the same. The former screamed in agony as the super effective attack drenched him while Blaziken grunted and fell to one knee as the poison flooded his system.

Ash, Ursula and Zoey smirked as their plan was working perfectly. Ash was proud of Milotic's performance so far, he had told her before this match to take it easy as they weren't trying to just knock them out and it was obvious that she had listened and worked on making her moves look as appealing as possible. Ash and Ursula weren't going to give May and Drew any chance to mount a counter-attack and continued their assault on them.

"Flareon use Swift."

"Milotic use Icy Wind."

A horde of stars formed around Flareon and then she shot them at Blaziken, Masquerain and Cacturne. Milotic then opened her mouth and the inside glowed light blue, she then released a strong wind with sparkling blue flecks of snow at the stars. The snow filled wind froze the stars and make them sparkle beautifully.

"Now Gallade use Will-O-Wisp." Zoey added.

Several orbs of blue flames surrounded Gallade then he shot them at the frozen stars, the flames surrounded the stars which turned them blue and it made them shimmer.

"Masquerain shatter them with Air Slash."

"Blaziken do the same with Mach Punch."

"Cacturne use Needle Arm."

Masquerain sent several blades of wind at the stars which shattered some of them however the majority of the stars got passed the blades of wind. As the stars approached Blaziken and Cacturne's fists glowed white and they threw their fists at the stars smashing some of them which caused the shards to glisten. Despite their best efforts Blaziken and Cacturne only managed to destroy about a third of the remaining stars so the rest of them hit Blaziken, Masquerain and Cacturne creating several cuts on them and doing severe damage to Cacturne again. Both teams looked to the score board and saw that they had lost some points but it showed Ash, Ursula and Zoey were easily in the lead. Ash, Ursula and Zoey then decided to up the ante.

"Dark Elemental Blast."

Gallade formed a black orb of energy between his hands and fired it at their opponents, Flareon then shot a burst of flames at the black orb and Milotic shot a high pressure jet of water at it and then fired several yellow orbs. The flames and water intertwined and shot the ball of dark energy forward as the yellow orbs spun around the main blast. The immensely powerful combination of attacks hit Blaziken, Masquerain and Cacturne who crashed to the ground groaning in pain. All three of the Pokémon somehow managed to get back up but were exhausted and everyone could see that they only had one more attack in them.

May, Drew and Harley were fuming as there wasn't much time left and they were way behind, May and Drew looked at each other and nodded which confused Harley.

"Let's do this, use Flame Ice."

Masquerain fired a light blue beam at Blaziken who had become engulfed in flames, the attack trapped Blaziken in a block of ice which shined beautifully. Blaziken then shot towards their opponents. May and Drew looked smug as they were confident that this would win them the match.

Ash, Ursula and Zoey smirked, they knew this was the end for May and Drew.

"They are making this way too easy aren't they?" Ash said

"Yeah they are. Shall we finish this?" Ursula replied

"Yeah, I think we've showed off why people should become coordinators." Zoey added.

"Psycho Elemental Wheel." they called out.

Milotic coiled her body into a wheel shape and her body then became surrounded in water, Flareon then jumped on to the inside of the wheel made by Milotic's body and Flareon became engulfed in flames. They both started spinning which made the flames and water merge together. Gallade stood behind the fire and water wheel and hit it with a psychic infused punch which added psychic energy to the combination attack. Milotic and Flareon then shot off towards Blaziken who smirked cockily expecting to easily overpower Milotic and Flareon. When the attacks clashed Blaziken was easily beaten and the ice surrounding him shattered causing the fragments sparkled in the light made by the flames that still engulfed Blaziken.

Milotic and Flareon then rammed into Blaziken again and he was catapulted away crashing straight into Masquerain leaving them both in a heap on the ground. Both Pokémon were barely conscious and they had no way to defend themselves from the charging wheel of water and fire, the attack hit the prone Pokémon and knocked them out. This left Cacturne alone with three almost fully fit Pokémon staring at him, Harley knew that his grass type stood no chance so he took the smarter option and returned him. Crosses instantly appeared on all the judges' screens and the crowd went wild.

Drew and May looked to the big screen and they saw that their bar had almost been completely drained whereas Ash, Ursula and Zoey's had barely lost anything. It crushed them to see that they'd have lost badly even if their Pokémon hadn't been knocked out.

May collapsed to her knees and started sobbing again, not only had Ash turned Manaphy against her he had also embarrassed her in a contest battle. Drew took May into his arms and glared at the ones who had humiliated them who were laughing at his broken girlfriend. Ash, Ursula and Zoey returned Milotic, Flareon Gallade and headed towards the tunnel.

As they walked Ash, Ursula and Zoey had smirks on their faces, pleased that they'd managed to humiliate them so easily. Ash was disappointed though as he had honestly expected them to put up more of a fight. Ash took one last look at his former companion and then left the stadium with Ursula and Zoey by his side.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.

So next chapter it's the time you've all been waiting for - Ash vs Max

Combo Moves

Poison Seeds - Bullet Seed + Poison Sting

Dark Elemental Blast – Gallade - Shadow Ball + Flareon - Flamethrower + Milotic - Hydro Pump + Hidden Power Electric

Psycho Elemental Wheel - Flareon - Flame Wheel + Milotic - Aqua Wheel (Water version of Flame Wheel) + Gallade – Psycho Cut


	17. A Maple Falls

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

If you read the original version of this story and have any questions, PM them to me so we don't spoil anything for the new readers - I'm honestly not sure why I keep putting this since every chapter has at least one review with a spoiler.

There will not be a new chapter for a couple of weeks in all likelihood, I'm going on holiday and will probably not devote any time to writing.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 14, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

"- Telepathy/Aura

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Outside the stadium Ash looked to the left and saw Anabel and the other's coming their way. He walked to Anabel who wrapped her arms around him, Ash returned the embrace once again making sure not to crush Manaphy between them. They broke apart and Manaphy now took residence in Ash's arms.

"Ash that was great they never saw you coming." Anabel said.

"Yeah that was awesome man. You showed them." Richie said as he clapped Ash on the back.

Richie then spotted Zoey to Ash's right and his mind went blank, he knew that he couldn't stand there staring so he forced himself to say something.

"H-h-hey, your Gallade was r-really impressive." Richie stuttered.

Zoey blushed at the comment made by Richie, she was usually calm and composed and would have no problem responding to praise but the handsome young man in front of her changed that.

"T-thanks." Zoey managed to stutter back.

Ash and Anabel looked at the pair and both were thinking how perfect the two of them would be together, Ash was then tackled by Ariana who was gazing at him with an awe struck look in her eyes.

"Those moves were incredible guys. It was such a beautiful match." Ariana said as she released Ash.

Ash chuckled at Ariana's enthusiasm for watching contests, no matter how he was feeling seeing Ariana so happy always bought a smile to Ash's face. Sadly, Paul did not have the same love for contests, in fact he pretty much hated them and he was never afraid of voicing his disdain for them.

"Contests are a stupid waste of time, pretty looking moves are useless if they don't do damage." Paul snapped.

Usually Ariana would jump to the defence of Contests, but Paul's abrasive nature had always intimidated her and today was no different. Ariana shrank back hiding behind Ash who wrapped an arm around her so she knew she was safe. Ariana wrapped her arms around Ash again but this time she had a much tighter grip on him and she hid her face in his shirt. Even though she knew that Paul wouldn't harm her she was still scared of him sometimes.

Ash tightened his hold on Ariana and watched as a furious looking Ursula stormed over to Paul and stood so they were inches apart.

"What the hell did you say?!" Ursula yelled.

"You heard me." Paul replied.

"You just know you don't have the skill to create any innovative moves and can only use basic tactics in battle."

"Shut up I could create those idiotic moves if I wanted to but it would be wasting time that could be used on something useful." Paul snarled.

Ursula and Paul were sending each other death glares as they both defending their opinions on coordinating. Ash knew them both well enough to know that if they are kept together any longer something or someone would probably get destroyed. So Ash handed Manaphy back to Anabel and started dragging Paul away while it was taking Richie, Dawn and Zoey to pull the enraged Ursula away. The enraged trainer and coordinator continued yelling at each other until they were out of sight. Ash, Anabel, Ariana and Delia managed to get Paul to a nearby café and eventually calmed Paul down. Ash listened as Paul still ranted about coordinating however after a while he started to tune his friend out as his thoughts were mainly on Pidgeot.

"I'm going to head to the Pokémon centre and see if Nurse Joy will let me take Pidgeot now." Ash announced.

Anabel, Ariana and Delia decided to come with him while Paul said he was going off to train. Ash just hoped that this training didn't involve finding Ursula because without any of them nearby there could be serious problems. Ash, Anabel, Ariana and Delia walked inside the Pokémon Centre and saw a rather bored Nurse Joy sat behind the front desk. However, when she saw the group entering she instantly perked up.

"Hey Nurse Joy. I came to see if I can take Pidgeot with me now." Ash said anxious to take Pidgeot.

"Yes you can take her. She seems to be recovering from the surgery very quickly."

"That's great news. Will she be able to battle again?" Ash asked. He wanted to have the option of using her if he could but he wouldn't risk her health.

"Oh yes. In fact, she should be battle ready in a couple of days."

Ash's eyes lit up with glee, he was expecting to hear that it would several months before she could start training again let alone battling.

"So I'll be able to use her in the tournament." Ash said more to himself than anyone else.

"Speaking of the tournament, have the next round match ups been done yet?" Anabel asked.

"No with all the build up to the event today the draw was delayed. It will be ready tomorrow though."

"Ok thanks again Nurse Joy."

Nurse Joy handed Pidgeot's Pokéball to Ash and then the quartet walked outside leaving Nurse Joy to once again be alone and bored. As soon as he was outside Ash chose to send out Pidgeot who nuzzled him making him laugh, Anabel, Delia and Ariana smiled at the scene happy to see Ash so carefree. Once Pidgeot stopped her nuzzling, Ash asked his mother if she wanted to meet his other Pokémon but she politely decline. She had already made plans to meet some old friends from her travelling days who she'd kept in touch with but hadn't seen face to face for years. Ariana on the other hand wouldn't be separated from Ash as she hadn't seen him for so long so Ash, Ariana and Anabel began walking back to the clearing.

* * *

When the clearing came into sight Ash told Pidgeot to wait for his word before coming out. Ash, Anabel and Ariana walked into the clearing and saw that Blastoise, Butterfree and Lapras were now with Bulbasaur laughing together. Ash knew it wouldn't be long before his Kanto team stood with Bulbasaur but the other's still shot glares at him. The worst by far coming from Charizard which didn't surprise him, he just hoped it wouldn't take long for the others to forgive him.

"Hey everyone." Ash yelled.

All the Pokémon turned to where the shout came from and saw their trainers, the Pokémon went over to them and Ash then sent out Milotic to join them.

"Nurse Joy has let me take Pidgeot. So it's time to introduce you to her." he said as Pidgeot landed next to Ash.

Pidgeot immediately went to Bulbasaur and extended her wing to the grass type showing she had no ill feelings towards him. This was thanks to Ash who had explained to her about Bulbasaur on the way and she understood the grass types motives. Bulbasaur smiled, glad that the noble bird had already forgiven him and extended a vine so they could do the closest thing to a handshake they could. Charizard growled at the scene he was watching, although he was ecstatic that Pidgeot was safe and unharmed he couldn't believe she had forgiven him so easily. But then again she hadn't been there the day that Ash was betrayed so he couldn't expect her to understand why he should not be forgiven so easily.

Pidgeot spent the rest of the afternoon meeting everyone she learnt about all of their pasts and she just generally talked with them. Anabel, Ash and Ariana stayed there for the rest of the day relaxing with their Pokémon. Manaphy was sat happily in Anabel's arms enjoying the attention her mama and papa were giving her. As it got late Ash and Anabel decided to leave and go back to the hotel, they escorted Ariana back to her hotel and made sure she got to her room safely. They then started walking towards their hotel, they strolled down the street admiring the beautiful night sky until they got to their hotel. They went inside and fell to sleep side by side with Manaphy between them.

* * *

Next morning Ash and Anabel walked to the Pokémon centre and saw everyone waiting for them once again. As usual Paul looked irritated while everyone else looked reasonably calm.

"Ever heard of an alarm clock Ketchum." Paul said agitatedly

"Yeah but I usually smash mine to smithereens."

They all laughed at that as they walked inside and approached Nurse Joy. She handed them their schedules one at a time, Paul had been matched against the winner of the Unova League. Richie was against Tyson who Ash had faced in the Hoenn League and Anabel was up against Volkner who had recently been made a member of the Elite 4 in Sinnoh. All of them looked at Ash wondering who his next opponent would be and could tell by the grin on his face that he'd finally be drawn against Max.

"So I finally get to fight the brat and his rat." Ash said.

As if on cue the doors to the Pokémon centre opened revealing Max and Pikachu. Ash, Paul and Richie smirked as they watched them walk to the main desk anticipating the look on their faces when they find out who they are against. Ash noticed that Max and Pikachu were not making eye contact with him and the other's as the young traitor walked towards the desk. Nurse Joy saw Max and quickly gave him the schedule that showed him and Pikachu who they'd be facing. Their eyes widened and Ash could sense the fear coming from them. Max and Pikachu glanced to the left and saw the smirk on Ash, Paul and Richie's faces. Ash and the others turned around and headed towards the exit.

"See you in a few days Maxy." Ash said as they left

Max and Pikachu were left alone in the Pokémon centre in shock, they shared a nervous glance knowing that the upcoming battle would be tough.

"We can do this Pikachu. We can beat Ash and show him that we were right all those years ago." Max said trying to sound confident.

'Yeah of course we can.' Pikachu replied.

They continued to look at each other, neither of them sure whether they were trying to convince themselves or each other.

* * *

Ash walked towards the clearing to tell everyone the good news, he could barely contain his excitement at finally getting to make Pikachu pay for abandoning him. When he walked into the clearing the Pokémon saw Ash coming towards them and the look on his face told them that it as finally time for Max and Pikachu to feel their wrath.

"I'm sure you've already realised this but next round we face Max."

All the Pokémon were thrilled that they'd finally get the chance to fight Max and were curious to see which Pokémon Ash chose to use. He looked at all of his Pokémon finding hard to select who should get a shot at Max. Eventually he managed to choose the Pokémon he would use to crush Max, everyone else groaning in disappointment that they wouldn't get to humiliate Max. Ash then looked at Charizard who was smirking at the thought of roasting Pikachu.

"Charizard there is one condition, you can't kill Pikachu."

"Why not?" he replied disappointed.

"Because we might get disqualified." Ash said with a smirk.

The next few days went extremely slowly for Ash but it was finally time to show his starter how wrong he was.

* * *

Ash sat in the locker waiting to be called out for his match, he had been waiting for this day for a long time and now it was finally here he wouldn't waste the opportunity he's been given. He heard his name be called and walked out of the locker room ready to humiliate Max and Pikachu. Ash walked on to the battlefield and even though he could hear the crowd roaring he ignored them as they were insignificant to him right now. The only thing that mattered right now were Max and Pikachu who were looking cocky but Ash could see the fear in their eyes.

"This will be a six vs six battle, substitutions are allowed. In the green box we have Max Maple and in the red we have Ash Ketchum. Max Maple shall choose his Pokémon first"

"Sceptile let's go."

The lizard appeared on the battlefield, Ash could see that he would be easily outclassed by his loyal Sceptile.

"Bulbasaur may the Aura guide you."

Bulbasaur came out and glared at the lizard across from him. Sceptile looked back at Bulbasaur with a look that was halfway between surprise and anger that he was with Ash, the last time he'd seen Bulbasaur he was residing at Professor Oak's lab.

"Sceptile use Bullet Seed."

"Cut through it with Razor Leaf."

Sceptile opened his mouth and shot hundreds of glowing yellow seeds at a high velocity at Bulbasaur. In response Bulbasaur released several razor-sharp leaves and fired them at the seeds. The leaves sliced the seeds in half making an explosion in the centre of the battlefield.

"Energy Ball and swallow it."

"Now you're trying to use my tactics as well. Bulbasaur quick use Sludge Seeds."

Sceptile smirked and then started forming a green orb in front of him. Bulbasaur quickly fired several seeds covered in toxic sludge at Sceptile. But he hadn't shot them quick enough and Sceptile managed to form and swallow an Energy Ball. A green aura suddenly formed around Sceptile as the effect of the Energy Ball took place. Sceptile grinned as he felt his power increase. The grin was wiped off his face when the poisoned seeds hit him. It was Bulbasaur's turn to grin as he saw that his attack had done some decent damage. But he knew this fight was far from over as the lizard still looked more than ready to continue.

"Use Leaf Blade."

"Use your vines to push yourself in the air then use Body Slam."

Sceptile blades turning a deep green and he straight at Bulbasaur. Sceptile threw his right blade forward but he only hit thin air as Bulbasaur had released his vines and pushed himself up in the air. Bulbasaur then began descending and was about to slam into Sceptile however the Hoenn starter quickly raised his other blade and struck Bulbasaur which stopped the Body Slam and sent him crashing down next to Ash. Ash winced watching this and looked worriedly at Bulbasaur who had managed to get back to his feet. Ash then realised how dumb he had been so far. He'd been using Bulbasaur as he would use his other Pokémon which would be fine except for the fact that Bulbasaur at the minute is nowhere near the same power level of them.

"X-Scissor."

Sceptile crossed his forearms and ran at Bulbasaur. He then slashed Bulbasaur with the bug move causing Bulbasaur to stagger back and temporarily collapse. Bulbasaur looked at Sceptile again and could see a smug grin on his face. The smug look angered Bulbasaur and he struggled to his feet. Bulbasaur knew there was only one way he'd be able to win this battle and he would win it no matter what it takes. Bulbasaur cried out and glowed a brilliant white that blinded everyone. When the light died down an Ivysaur now stood on the battlefield. The main change in his appearance is that its bulb on his back has changed into a pink flower bud with leaves extending from it.

"Sceptile X-Scissor again."

"Ivysaur use Vine Whip to grab his arms. Then use Sludge Bomb and then slam him into the ground."

Ivysaur shot out two vines that grabbed Sceptile's arms. Sceptile tried to struggle free but Ivysaur had a tight hold on him. Ivysaur then then raised Sceptile high in the air leaving him completely defenceless. Sceptile could see what was about to happen and struggled against Ivysaur's vines again but it was futile. Ivysaur smirked as he watched Sceptile try to break free. He then shot a torrent of poisonous sludge at the Lizard causing Sceptile to yell out in pain. Ivysaur then slammed Sceptile down into the battlefield which created a crater in the battlefield.

Sceptile managed to push himself back to his feet but looked exhausted, there also appeared to be poison dripping from his mouth. Ash also noticed that Sceptile's body had lost the green glow that the power boost Energy Ball had given him which showed that he no longer had the strength to maintain that level of power. However, his Overgrow ability had kicked in but it had nowhere near as much power as the Energy Ball power boost had.

"Let's end this. Ivysaur Solarbeam." Ash said calmly.

"Sceptile use Solarbeam too." Max yelled angrily.

Ivysaur gathered sunlight in the flower bulb on his back and Sceptile gathered sunlight in the seeds on his back. Both starters then fired a green beam of energy at each other. The attacks clashed in the middle of the battlefield and at first the attacks seemed even. But gradually Ivysaur's Solar Beam began pushing Sceptile's back until it finally cut through and launched the lizard into the stadium wall. Sceptile pulled himself out of the wall but he had taken too much punishment to keep going so he slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Sceptile is unable to battle green choose your next Pokémon."

* * *

Max growled in frustration and returned Sceptile, he then pulled another Pokéball off his belt.

"Gallade you're up."

"Great job Ivysaur, I'm proud of you. Now take a rest."

Ash returned Ivysaur and took a new Pokéball off his belt.

"Chu may the Aura lead us to victory."

"Gallade annihilate that thing with Earthquake."

Ash sighed, he really was disappointed in how predictable Max was.

"Magnet Rise." Ash said in a bored tone.

Gallade stomped on the ground which created some tremors. But honestly the little shakes were pathetic compared too what Charizard and Paul's Torterra had created in previous rounds. Ash knew he didn't even really need to dodge the Earthquake but this would be just another way to mock Max. Max growled angrily as he saw Chu on a platform of electricity. What infuriated him was the smirk Chu was directing at him.

"Hey captain predictable, you should know by now that using tactics like that won't work against me." Ash taunted.

"Shut up Ketchum. Gallade use Psycho Cut until you knock that worthless Pikachu out of the sky." Max yelled.

"Counter with Thunderbolt."

Gallade's blades glowed blue and he started swinging his arms which fired several psychic blades at Chu. As she saw the blades headed her way the Chu's cheeks crackled and she charged electricity into them. She then fired several bolts of electricity and aimed them at the psychic blades which instantly dispelled them. The electricity then carried on and shocked Gallade forcing him to drop to his knees. Chu then jumped off the platform of electricity and smirked at Gallade who had gotten back to his feet. As he watched what was happening Max's eye twitched and a frustrated growl came from him.

"Chu use Thundering Shadows."

"Use Shadow Ball."

A black aura which crackled with electricity surrounded Chu. Gallade was not worried about what Chu was doing and formed a black orb of energy in front of him which he fired at Chu. The mouse watched the orb coming towards her and merely swiped her arm at it which batted it away. Chu then slammed her fist into the ground and the aura that surrounded her transferred into the ground and shot straight at Gallade. The psychic type jumped in an attempt to dodge the wave of dark electricity but the aura just shot straight off the battlefield and engulfed Gallade. Everyone heard Gallade yell out in pain and when the attack ended Gallade crashed back to the ground. Ash was surprised to see Gallade struggle to his feet but it was obvious that he was finished.

"Max return Gallade there is nothing more he can do." Ash said not wanting to cause more harm than necessary.

"No I don't believe you. Gallade is fine. Show him Gallade use Leaf Blade and Night Slash."

Ash sighed "Fine. Chu use Volt Tackle."

Gallade's right blade glowed green and his left turned black. He charged at Chu who became surrounded in electricity and sprinting straight at Gallade. Gallade aimed both of his bladed arms at Chu but due to his tiredness he missed both attacks. Chu than slammed into Gallade's gut which sent him flying through the air and he landed at Max's feet unconscious and covered in electrical burns.

"Gallade is unable to battle. Green side choose your next Pokémon."

* * *

Ash didn't feel that satisfied about beating Gallade the way he had done. He knew that was the Ralts he had met in Hoenn and he felt bad that he had to do that much damage. Ash shook the thought away and looked at Max who seemed to be getting more and more pissed off.

"Slaking it's your turn."

"Good job Chu, return. Now Absol may the Aura assure our victory."

The disaster Pokémon stood proud in front of her opponent while Slaking looked ready to take a nap.

"Slaking use Focus Punch."

"Absol use Ice Beam on the battlefield then use Dark Pulse to shatter the ice."

Slaking's fist glowed white and he charged at Absol who formed a light blue orb in front of her. Absol then fired several beams of ice Beam at the battlefield which froze it. The now slippery surface caused Slaking to slip over and slide ungracefully finally crashing into the arena wall. A dark aura then surrounded Absol and she released it as a dark wave of energy. The dark energy shattered the ice which left shards of ice all over the battlefield. Ash and Absol smirked as they saw that Slaking's ability then kicked causing him to show off why his species is called the lazy Pokémon. Max was grinding his teeth in anger as he saw another one of his Pokémon being humiliated.

"Now use Razor Wind."

"Use Focus Punch again." Max yelled desperately.

The scythe on Absol's head glowed white and she started swinging her head, sending out white crescent blades of wind at Slaking. Meanwhile Slaking had stopped being lazy and ran at Absol its fist again glowing white. He was immediately stopped by the blades of wind though which were gradually pushing him back. What made it worse for Slaking was that the blades of wind were also propelling the shards of ice on the ground at him so the shards were pelting him which caused him even more pain. When Absol fired the last blade she looked at Slaking and saw that he was covered in nasty looking cuts over his body as well as some hefty bruises where the large chunks of ice had crashed into him. Slaking felt completely drained and he slumped to the ground as blood slowly oozed out of the wounds.

"Let's finish him off. Use Night Slash and don't let up your assault."

Absol charged at the defenceless Slaking as her claws and the scythe on her head turned from grey to pitch black. Slaking looked on in horror as the he saw the sharp claws and scythe now headed at him. Absol then bombarded Slaking with slashes creating terrible cuts all over his body. She finished it up by using her sickle to make a huge gash on Slaking's gut. The pain was overwhelming and it caused Slaking to black out.

"Slaking is unable to battle. Green side choose your next Pokémon."

* * *

Max wasn't going to give up but his confidence was waning as he watched each of his Pokémon fall to Ash's Pokémon

"Quilava let's do this."

"Well done Absol. Now Gardevoir time for another traitor to fall."

The fire type came out and as soon as he spotted his opponent he quickly averted his gaze. Ash had caught sight of the look in his eyes and saw the same look that Bulbasaur had on his face days ago. It made Ash wonder if he was ashamed of his actions as Bulbasaur was. He always had been fond of the rather timid fire type and if he too had a legitimate reason for turning against him then maybe Quilava could become one of his Pokémon again.

"Why did you do it Quilava?" Ash yelled determined to get an answer.

Quilava looked to the ground guiltily. He was ashamed of what he did and to be honest he knew that his reason for betraying Ash was pathetic. But Ash deserved to know the truth.

'I-I was scared. I saw so many of the other's nod along with the traitors that I was scared of what would happen to me if I disagreed with them.'

"Not good enough." Ash replied harshly.

'I know.' Quilava said while nodding his head. He had no respect for Max but he needed some help if hoped to not be crushed by Ash.

"Quilava use Flamethrower." Max yelled.

"Use Light Screen. Then use Shadow Thunder Blast."

Quilava shot a burst of flames at Gardevoir who stood still and erected a barrier in front of her. The flames hit the barrier and were sent flying off in different directions leaving Gardevoir completely unharmed. She then formed an orb of black energy in one hand and a blue orb of energy in the other hand. Her fists then crackled with electricity and she punched both of the orbs launching them at the stunned fire type. Quilava tried to dodge but the Shadow Ball was moving way too fast meaning that it clipped his side. The damage caused by the Shadow Ball made him unable to avoid the Focus Blast which hit him head on. Quilava was knocked down by the attack but he managed to get back to his feet looking ready for battle.

"Use Flame Charge."

"Meet him head on with Thunder Punch."

Quilava became engulfed in flames and ran straight at Gardevoir who's fists crackled with electricity. She charged at Quilava and the two met in the centre of the battlefield. Gardevoir started by throwing one fist forward which was matched by Quilava's Flame Charge. However, he could do nothing to avoid her other fist which slammed into his skull. The strength of the punch sent Quilava skidding along the ground until finally stopping in front of Max. Quilava shook his head and slowly pushed himself to his feet meanwhile Gardevoir floated back in front of Ash.

"Quilava hit her with Swift."

"Use Psychic to return them to sender."

A horde of stars appeared around Quilava and he fired the stars at Gardevoir. They flew at Gardevoir and Max looked on triumphantly as it appeared she couldn't do anything. To his shock he saw that they stopped inches from her. The stars then glowed blue from the psychic energy and Gardevoir shot them back at Quilava spinning several times faster than before. The fire types eyes widened in shock as he saw his own attack headed back at him. By the time he snapped out of his shock it was too late and he cried out in pain when the stars hit him. He nearly collapsed from the pain and he could feel how shaky his legs were. But he managed to stay standing although he knew he couldn't go on much longer.

"Quilava use Flare Blitz."

"Psychic Rush."

Like before Quilava's body was engulfed in flames but they were much more intense this time and he charged at Gardevoir. The speed boost from Flame Charge making him close the distance quicker than before. Meanwhile Gardevoir's body was surrounded in a blue glow and she charged at Quilava using Psychic to increase the speed and power of her attack. The attacks clashed and the power of the combined attacks raised a dust cloud which shrouded the battlefield. When the dust finally settled a triumphant Gardevoir stood over an unconscious Quilava.

"Quilava is unable to battle. Green choose your next Pokémon."

* * *

Max was getting incredibly frustrated now.

"Gliscor come one out and win this."

"Donphan crush him."

They both came out and Gliscor looked away in guilt as he saw Ash and Donphan. Ash could sense that his reasons were the same as Quilava's which was not good enough.

"Gliscor. I know you turned on me through fear but that is not a good enough reason. So now you're going to pay." Ash said and Gliscor just nodded in response.

"Don't listen to that loser Gliscor. Use X-Scissor"

"Seed Bomb and then hit Gliscor with a Hyper Beam."

Gliscor crossed his arms in front of him and flew full speed at Donphan. The closer he got the more confident he felt as Donphan had made no attempt to attack. When Gliscor was only a couple of feet away Donphan opened his mouth revealing a glowing white orb. Multiple glowing white seeds then shot forth from the orb giving Gliscor no option but to try and push through the attack. Sadly, for Gliscor he just wasn't strong enough to burst through the attack. Donphan sent one final wave of seeds which this time exploded on contact sending Gliscor crashing to the ground. Max watched on helpless as Donphan formed an orange orb in his mouth and fired a powerful orange beam from the orb. The Hyper Beam hit Gliscor which slammed him into the wall causing massive damage. He pulled himself out of the wall and was able to stay in the air although it was taking a lot of effort. Max knew that he had to try and heal some of the damage Gliscor had just taken.

"Roost."

"Max you are really making this far too easy. Use Earthquake."

Gliscor landed on the ground and rested his body which healed some of the damage caused by Donphan. But before he could get back into the air Donphan stomped on the battlefield which caused massive tremors that cracked the earth and demolished the battlefield. The intense attack caused major damage to Gliscor so it had basically made Gliscor's Roost a pointless endeavour. Gliscor got back into the air but it was obvious that he was pretty much finished. Ash was finding the decimation of Max incredibly funny but he knew that Charizard was eager to meet their old friend so he decided to finish Gliscor off.

"Let's finish this, use Stone Edge."

Max then realised the real reason Ash had used Earthquake and he could do nothing as he saw the rubble from the destroyed battlefield circle around Donphan and then be fired at Gliscor. Gliscor was too tired to do anything but watch the rocks as they crashed into him. The attack sapped the last of Gliscor strength and he plummeted to the ruined battlefield. To add insult to injury some of the rocks that had knocked Gliscor out of the sky fell on top of him and crushed him. Donphan dragged Gliscor's unconscious body from the rubble and dumped him next to Max.

"Gliscor is unable to battle. Green side choose your final Pokémon."

* * *

Max returned Gliscor and then looked at Pikachu who was stood on his shoulder.

"Come on Pikachu we can do this. If you can beat Ash's last Pokémon I'm sure you can take down the rest of his team no problem." Max said hoping he sounded confident.

Pikachu nodded and jumped off Max's shoulder. He stood defiantly in front of Ash ready to prove that he was right to ditch him seven years ago.

"Pikachu you are about to enter a world of pain and by the end you will be begging me to tell him to stop him attacking you."

'I will crush whoever you send out.' Pikachu yelled back.

"Charizard it's time."

Charizard came out roaring and shooting flames in the air. The little confidence that Max and Pikachu had vanished as they looked at the now smirking Charizard. But they both quickly regained their composure.

'I've been looking forward to this day for seven years.' Charizard said darkly.

'Y-you don't frighten me you overgrown lizard.' Pikachu replied.

"Do you want to do this on your own." Ash asked already knowing the answer.

'Yeah.'

"Okay have fun."

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt." Max instructed.

Pikachu fired a bolt of electricity at Charizard. Max was anticipating an easy win and had already started celebrating. But his jubilation soon turned to horror as he watched Charizard just swung his wing at the electric attack which simply batted the Thunderbolt away. Both Max and Pikachu were stunned at what had just happened as nobody had ever just brushed aside his Thunderbolt that easily.

"Quick Attack now."

Streaks of white appeared around Pikachu and he shot forward at an incredible speed. But sadly for him Charizard had battle much faster opponents and all he had to do to stop Pikachu was raise his foot up. Pikachu tried to push against Charizard but it was futile. Pikachu was so focussed on attacking Charizard that he didn't notice that the dragons other foot was glowing white. Charizard kicked Pikachu with a devastating Mega Kick which sent the mouse into the sky. Charizard took flight and flew up above Pikachu. His fist glowed white and it was also engulfed in flames. He punched the mouse back down to the ground and Pikachu crashed into the battlefield. Pikachu groaned in pain as he pulled himself out of the crater. He was still more than able to fight but he looked worse for wear.

"Pikachu Electro Ball."

Pikachu formed a ball of electricity on his tail and launched the ball of electricity at Charizard. The dragon yawned and simply put up his hand and caught the Electro Ball like a baseball. Charizard then threw it straight back at Pikachu who wasn't really harmed by the attack. But it was quickly demoralising the mouse who was beginning to realise just how outclassed he was. Ash was on the verge of laughing watching Charizard humiliate Pikachu this badly. But he knew Charizard wasn't done yet.

"Iron Tail."

Pikachu's tail turned metallic and he ran at Charizard. Pikachu leapt into the air at the last minute hoping to land a shot to Charizard's head and he did. He felt like this would turn it around for him but then Pikachu saw that the attack hadn't even made Charizard flinch. The dragon then grabbed Pikachu by his tail and dangled the defenceless mouse in front of him. Pikachu started panicking and used a Thunder in an attempt to escape but Charizard wasn't even bothered. What scared Pikachu was that Charizard had actually laughed at the attack.

'Ha that tickled.' Charizard said with a smirk.

Pikachu was utterly terrified now. He'd never been more afraid of anything in his life not even when he was paralyzed by Mewtwo's Psychic. Pikachu was scared to think of what Charizard would do to him next. He got his answer when the fire type slammed Pikachu into the ground not once, not twice but three times. Pikachu was beginning to see that Ash had been right. Pikachu then screeched in pain as Charizard fired a point blank Flamethrower at him. Charizard released Pikachu and the mouse managed to scramble away however his body was littered in cuts, bruises and burns.

"Pikachu Volt Tackle." Max yelled with no regard to Pikachu's condition.

Pikachu became surrounded with electricity. He knew that he may be outclassed but he wouldn't go down without a fight. Ash watched as Charizard charged at Pikachu and his body became engulfed by flames. The attacks clashed and the mouse wouldn't have stood a chance if Charizard had been trying. But he'd had a different idea. Charizard's tail suddenly turned metallic and he swung it hitting Pikachu in the abdomen and it sent him flying in the air again. Charizard chased after him and grabbed him. Pikachu knew that it was over now as Charizard had only one intention now.

Charizard flew high into the sky and when he got to an altitude that he thought was appropriate he threw Pikachu towards the battlefield. The mouse rocketed towards the ground and he crashed into the ruins of the battlefield. Pikachu prayed that Charizard was done but then he saw the dragon charging a Blast Burn. Charizard grinned as he saw Pikachu realise what was about to happen and fired the immensely powerful fire attack at the completely powerless mouse. Pikachu closed his eyes as he didn't want to see the brutal attack as it hit him. The battlefield was bathed in flames and when the flames died down Charizard glided back to the ground and inspected his handiwork and to say he was delighted would be an understatement. Pikachu was in the enormous crater Charizard had created, broken, bleeding and burnt.

"Pikachu is unable to battle. Ash Ketchum wins."

Max collapsed to his knees crying at the fact that Ash had beaten him. Ash smiled seeing the distraught look on Max's face. Ash then walked to the crater Pikachu was in. He stepped into the crater and knelt next to Pikachu. The broken mouse winced as he turned his head to look at his old trainer. His vision was blurry from the pain he was feeling and the tears in his eyes. In a cold voice that Pikachu had never heard Ash use before he said six words.

"This is the cost of betrayal."

After hearing those words Pikachu finally blacked out, Ash smirked at his broken starter and returned Charizard. He took one last look at the first Pokémon he had gotten, then turned around and walked out the stadium.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.

Readers of the original will see that I have removed a scene which May be added later on.

Jirachi will get a shot at Max at a later date, revealing her during the battle would be too reminiscent to what I did with Oak and I want to change things up for Celebi and Jirachi's reveals.

Combo Moves

Sludge Seeds – Sludge Bomb + Seed Bomb

Thundering Shadows – Hidden Power (Ghost) + Discharge

Shadow Thunder Blast – Shadow Ball + Thunderbolt + Focus Blast

Psychic Rush – Equivalent of Flare Blitz, Volt Tackle etc.


	18. The Battle For Manaphy

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy holiday and to show my appreciation to those people I decided to spend a little time writing this chapter.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 15, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

Outside the stadium Ash had a huge smile on his face as the memory of a crying Max and Pikachu was still fresh in his mind. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice two figures that were once again watching him from the shadows.

"Now's our chance, he's all alone and just had a battle so his Pokémon will be weak." The taller man insisted.

"Stop being so foolish, he crushed that weak maggot. His Pokémon will be fine, we must wait and enact the plan we have in place." His shorter companion replied.

The taller man growled angrily at being told to wait again, he had been waiting several years to get vengeance on Ketchum and his patience was wearing thin. The shorter man could feel the irritation radiating from his companion and he would be unlikely to wait until the plan could be enacted.

"Fine, but I will not wait much longer, the next time I see an opportunity to strike I will attack him."

"If you do that then you'll be hauled off to jail."

The taller man glared at his companion and then took a Pokéball out of his pocket, he held it in front of the other man and smirked.

"Not with this beast under my control, with this creature I will eliminate Ketchum."

"If you think a strong Pokémon will be enough to defeat Ketchum you truly are a fool."

The shorter man walked away before his partner could reply, the taller man reluctantly followed him but grumbled in discontent as they walked through the dark back alleys.

* * *

Meanwhile Ash continued walking towards the clearing so he could tell the others about the systematic dismantling of Max when he was tackled by a colt-like Pokémon. It had a cream-colored body, a short, rounded snout with large nostrils and blue eyes. Along its head it had a large, feathery red mane, long, dark blue, ridged eyebrow-like protrusions and a single cream-colored horn that curves slightly. The back of its head, as well as its neck, was covered with fluffy, light blue fur. It had blue hooves and its tail was light blue with white spots.

"Hey Keldeo. Where's Alessandra?" Ash asked

"She's right here." a voice replied.

Ash looked up and saw Alessandra. She still had Waist-long brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a blue top, with a white jacket, blue knee-long skirt, white socks and brown shoes. She also carried a blue and white bag. To her left stood her Infernape and to her right stood her Leafeon. Keldeo got off Ash and let him get to his feet, Ash then walked over to Alessandra and he hugged her.

"Hey Alex what are you doing here? Are you competing?" Ash asked

"Yes I am. Actually I've just won my match and was hoping I'd run into you."

"I'm glad to see you. Hey how's Markus?"

"He's ok, he wasn't feeling too good so I told him to stay at home."

Just then Alex saw Max cradling Pikachu who was in terrible shape, she walked over to Max and Pikachu and saw the horrible injuries Pikachu had sustained. Ash sighed, he knew that Alex hated seeing Pokémon in pain and knew that she would send out her healers to fix the damage Charizard had done. He watched as Alex crouched down to inspect Pikachu and waited for to say she was going to heal the rat.

"It's about time you two got what was coming to you." Alex said.

Ash's eyes widened in shock at what Alex had just said, he was so stunned by what she said and by the harshness in her voice that he didn't notice Max run away. Alex turned her attention back to Ash and was confused by the look he was giving her.

"What?"

"Wow, sorry I just wasn't expecting that. I'd honestly been expecting you to heal Pikachu."

"If it had been almost anyone else I'd have helped but not them. Not after what they've done and who they've worked for."

Ash was about to reply when something rammed into his stomach, he grunted as he was winded by the impact and he staggered back to keep his balance. He looked down to see what was now resting in his arms and a soft smile graced Ash's face as he stared into the adoring eyes of Manaphy. Delia, Ariana and Dawn soon appeared relieved to see that Manaphy hadn't gotten into trouble.

"Papa won." Manaphy said happily.

"Yeah I did. Wait why are you with my mother and Ariana?" Ash asked.

"Wanted to be with grandma and auntie." Manaphy replied.

"Okay, did you have fun?"

"Yeah, grandma really nice."

"Thank you Manaphy." Delia said

Delia rubbed Manaphy's head making her sigh happily, a disgruntled huff from Ariana gained everyone's attention. They turned their gaze to her and saw her pouting at Manaphy.

"What about me?" Ariana whined.

"Auntie fun too."

Ariana immediately lost the pout on her face and smiled happily at Manaphy, everyone else chuckled at Ariana's quick change of heart. Ash turned to his mother and looked at her gratefully.

"Thank you for looking after her." Ash said

"It's no problem Ash, she's an adorable granddaughter."

"Yeah she's really cute." Ariana added.

Manaphy blushed in embarrassment at their praise and buried her face into her papa's shirt, Ash chuckled at his daughters' reaction and kissed the top of her head. The young Pokémon then surprised Ash by moving up and kissing him on the cheek. Manaphy blushed again and then quickly went back to her previous position.

"Love you papa." Manaphy mumbled.

"I love you too Manaphy." Ash said softly.

Alex then suggested that they should go to the Pokémon Centre to wait for the others, everyone agreed with Alex's idea and they headed towards the Pokémon Centre. While they walked Alex got acquainted with Dawn, Delia and Ariana chatted as they walked alongside Ash who was focussed on Manaphy who had fallen asleep in his arms.

* * *

It didn't take long for them to reach the Pokémon Centre, they sat around one of the larger tables and conversed about the most random of things. They were sat talking for only a short while when Richie appeared grinning at them confirming that once again he had won. They only had enough time to ask how Richie's battle went when they heard the doors open again and saw Paul who walked in looking incredibly smug, Ash knew that look very well.

"So you won as well then." Ash stated.

"Yeah the only challenge was his Hydreigon. It was a little disappointing to be honest, I guess Unova isn't that much of a challenge really."

"Hey I'm from Unova." Alex said angrily.

"Your point being?"

Before Alex had a chance to responded to Paul's comment Keldeo did it for her by drenching Paul. Everyone started laughing at the now furious Paul who was on the verge of attacking Keldeo before he thought better of it and sent out his Magmortar. The laughing quickly died down as Magmortar dried Paul, once the room was quiet the Sinnoh native looked at Ash.

"So did you crush the rat?" Paul asked.

"You bet I did. Max sprinted here with the rat and he must be under constant observation after what Charizard did."

Anabel then walked into Pokémon centre, she immediately saw Ash talking with Paul, Richie and a woman she had never met. She thought Paul looked annoyed but then when doesn't he she though. Anabel walked up to the group and watched as Dawn, Delia and Ariana chatted at a nearby table. Anabel wrapped her arms around Ash and he quickly returned the embrace

"Hi Ash. Who's this?" Anabel asked

"Hi Anabel. This is Alessandra Cesarini."

"It's good to finally meet you Anabel. Ash told me a lot about you." Alex said.

"Well it's good to meet you too Alessandra."

"Please call me Alex."

"So Ash how did you meet Alex?"

"Well..."

* * *

Flashback (three Years ago)

Alessandra is with her Infernape, her Leafeon and her Keldeo were walking around Mt. Coronet. Alessandra had come to Mt Coronet to train her Servine, her Tranquill and her Chansey hoping that would evolve. She came upon an area suitable for camp and decided to stop and camp for the night. Alessandra opened her bag and took out her home made Pokémon food. She put out the Pokémon food for them but as she placed the last bowl the she noticed someone missing.

"Hey, where's Keldeo?" Alessandra asked confused. She looked around hoping to see where the Colt Pokémon was. Unfortunately, she couldn't see him anywhere. She let out a sigh.

"Oh come on...Not again!" she yelled in frustration.

She then looked to her faithful Tranquill, Penelope.

"Penelope, can you help me?"

Penelope nodded and took flight, Alessandra then returned her Chansey and Servine after promising them that she would let them eat as soon as they found the Colt Pokémon. She looked to her Infernape, Blaze, and her Leafeon, Leaf.

"Come on, let's make Penelope's work a little easier." she said to them.

They nodded and they started the search for Keldeo.

Meanwhile Ash was watching his Pokémon training. He was about to tell then to stop for the day when he heard a sound. He turned to where the sound was coming from and before he knew it, he was tackled by something. Ash looked at the Pokémon that was now lying on him.

"Who are you?" Ash asked

'My name is Keldeo.' the Pokémon replied.

Ash then remembered reading something about him when he did some research into Pokémon from the Unova region. But Ash was puzzled as to why a legendary Pokémon from Unova would be on Mt Coronet.

"What are you doing here?"

'I was with my trainer, Alessandra.'

"And where is she?"

All of a sudden everyone heard a female voice.

"Keldeo? Keldeo?! Are you here?!"

Keldeo got up from where he was and ran to the girl that had just reached Ash's camp site. Everyone watched her kneel down to be at Keldeo's level and tickle his chin.

"Keldeo I know you're still young. But you shouldn't get away from us. You could get hurt or captured." she said.

Then she noticed the hooded man and his Pokémon watching them. She saw that the man was brushing snow off his coat indicating to her that Keldeo had probably just tackled him. She walked over to the stranger.

"I'm sorry. Did Keldeo bother you?" she said.

"Not at all. Trust me I've taken far worse than just a tackle." Ash replied.

"Sorry about that. Keldeo has been with me for a year now but he's still young so sometimes he tends to run off and tackle people."

Alessandra looked around and noticed it was getting dark and she was a long way away from her camp site.

"Excuse me sir but is it ok if I let the rest of my team out and we stay here tonight?"

Ash nodded and she let out her team who began eating the food she'd prepared and they began talking with Ash's Pokémon. Ash looked at the Pokémon smiling. He was happy that his Pokémon were able to trust other's so easily. He wished he could do the same thing. There was probably only five people he trusted completely which saddened him. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the girl talking.

"I'm Alessandra Cesarini. But my friends call me Alex. And you are?"

Ash was silent for a moment. He considered telling her his real name but instead chose the name he had gone by for the past three years.

"My name is Takeo Hayashi."

Flashback over

* * *

"She found out a few days later that I was actually Ash Ketchum thanks to a certain cat."

"I thought dat she was back at camp, it's not my fault that she snuck up on us." Meowth replied.

Everyone laughed at the cats' defensive response, when they all calmed down Alex spotted the clock above Nurse Joy's desk.

"Dammit I promised I'd call Markus twenty minutes ago. I've got to go everyone; I'll catch up with you soon."

"Alright Alex, we'll see you soon."

Alessandra quickly exchanged numbers with everyone and left the Pokémon Centre in a hurry, Paul then started walking towards the doors clearly intending to leave as well.

"I need to start training for the next round, I'm going back to my Pokémon and preparing." Paul said.

"I should do the same." Richie added.

Richie caught up with Paul and they left the Pokémon Centre, Ash then turned to where Dawn, his mother and Ariana were sat and realised that he hadn't seen Dawn for several days now and she had been incredibly quiet today. He got up and moved around the table so he was next to Dawn, she was surprised by the action and immediately averted her gaze.

"Hey Dawn why haven't we seen you much over the past few days?"

"I knew the contest battle was coming up and that Ursula and Zoey would be here so I hid. I couldn't bring myself to face them after what I did to you."

"I don't blame you for wanting to hide, I know that Ursula was waiting for a chance to rip your head off. But you don't need to worry I told Ursula and Zoey that I'd forgiven you. I didn't tell them what happened though, I felt like that would be better said by you."

Dawn sighed and finally looked at Ash, she gave him a small smile which reassured him.

"You're right Ash, I do need to tell them and I'd love to have you there but I've got to do this on my own."

"Okay Dawn, they should be at the café near the hotel you're staying in. I'd hurry though, Ursula wasn't planning on staying long."

Dawn responded with a nod and with a determined look in her eyes she got up and left the Pokémon Centre fully intent on explaining what happened to Zoey and Ursula and hopefully regaining their respect. Ash watched Dawn leave and was proud to see her looking so confident and determined, he wished she would see how strong she was.

"Come on we've got a group of Pokémon to inform about the battle with Max and the embarrassment of Pikachu too." Ash said.

Anabel, Ariana and Delia agreed with Ash and followed him out the doors of the Pokémon Centre. Once outside they were confronted by May, Ash sighed in annoyance at the sight of his Hoenn companion. He had thought that he'd have gotten a little of respite from this irritant but unfortunately it seemed not.

"What do you want now?" Ash asked.

"I want Manaphy back." She growled.

"Manaphy already made her choice." Ash replied.

"Only because you poisoned her mind to think that bitch is her mother." May snarled.

Ash stormed over to May and looked at the Hoenn coordinator with a terrifying glare.

"Do you remember what I said in the Pokémon Centre the other day? I would seriously consider the next words that come out of your pathetic mouth." he growled.

"You don't scare me Ketchum, Anabel I challenge you to a battle. The winner is Manaphy's true mama and gets to keep her."

"There is no way I will agree to that. Manaphy is a living creature that I love. She's not some kind of betting chip." Anabel replied.

Anabel then felt Manaphy tug on her shirt, she looked down at Manaphy and smiled at the innocent look in the young ones' eyes.

"Mama battle her." Manaphy said to everyone's surprise.

"But if she wins she would take you away. We'd never see each other again."

"Mama won't lose, mama beat her. I know mama can do it." Manaphy said confidently.

Anabel still wasn't convinced though as she didn't want to risk losing Manaphy.

"May how about if you win you get Manaphy. If we win you leave us alone." Ash counter offered.

"Fine, I'll agree to that since there's no way she can beat me." May said dismissively.

"No we can't do this; I don't want to lose Manaphy. I don't care if she'll leave us alone, I will not risk losing Manaphy. I love her!" Anabel said clutching on to Manaphy.

"Anabel I don't want to lose Manaphy either. But I know you can win and Manaphy knows you can win. When you beat her we can prove she's guilty and then that's one less scumbag to worry about." Ash replied.

Anabel was torn, on the one hand she wanted May to pay for what she did to Ash and by extension to her but on the other she didn't want to risk losing Manaphy. She looked down at Manaphy once again, she had to be sure that this was wanted Manaphy wanted.

"Are you sure Manaphy?" Anabel said looking straight into her eyes.

"Yes mama."

Anabel sighed, it was clear that Manaphy wanted this so she would not deny the young Pokémon.

"Ok I'll do it, I'll battle her and I'll beat her. I just need to get Espeon, I didn't use her in my battle today." Anabel said.

"It's okay I'll get Mewtwo to Teleport her here." Ash whispered.

"**Mewtwo can you bring Espeon here please?"**

"**Of course Ash."**

Moments later Espeon was stood in front of Anabel and Ash looking around confusedly, the look of confusion quickly switched to anger when she realised she'd been dragged away from her beloved Glaceon.

'Hey what am I doing here? I was spending some quality time with Glaceon.' Espeon growled angrily.

"Sorry Espeon but Anabel needs you for a battle against May." Ash replied.

A smirk appeared on Espeon's face, her anger had immediately subsided at the thought of getting a shot at one of the scum.

'Well I suppose I can spare a few minutes to beat her.'

"Thank you Espeon." Anabel said.

"So you're really using that wimpy looking Espeon." May taunted which made Espeon growl angrily. "I'll show you a true Eeveelution Glaceon take the stage."

May's Glaceon appeared and smirked at Ash as she recognised the foolish boy, Espeon quickly blocked the ice Eeveelutions gaze and glared at him. Glaceon growled angrily and stepped back as he switched his gaze to Espeon.

"Shadow Ball." May called out.

"Match it then use Signal Beam." Anabel said calmly.

Glaceon and Espeon formed a ball of black energy in front of them and launched them. The orbs clashed and cancelled each other out. Espeon quickly followed up by forming a white orb in front of the jewel on her forehead. She then fired a rainbow coloured beam from the orb at Glaceon. The beam struck Glaceon and knocked him back but didn't confuse him.

"Ice Beam."

"Dig then Iron Tail."

Glaceon opened his mouth and a light ball orb formed in his mouth. He then fired beams of ice at Espeon. However, the psychic Eeveelution had dug underground easily avoiding the Ice Beam. Glaceon looked around frantically trying to guess where Espeon would reappear. Suddenly the ground beneath him shook and Espeon came bursting out of the ground. Espeon then slammed her metallic tail into Glaceon's gut which sent him crashing down next to May.

"Giga Impact." May yelled.

"Psychic Rush."

Glaceon charged at Espeon and his body became surrounded in orange streaks. Meanwhile Espeon's body was surrounded in a blue glow and charged at Glaceon using Psychic to increase the speed and power of her attack. The Eeveelutions clashed and their combined attacks raised a dust cloud which shrouded the area. When the dust finally settled a triumphant Espeon stood over an unconscious Glaceon.

"Yay mama won." Manaphy shouted exuberantly.

Ash smiled as he handed Manaphy to Anabel who hugged Manaphy tightly. Ash then walked over to May who had collapsed to her knees. Ash knelt down to look at May who looked completely heartbroken.

"It's over May. Anabel beat you fair and square, now keep your end of the bargain and leave us alone." Ash said sternly.

May didn't respond to Ash, she just continued to stare brokenly at the ground. Ash smirked at the completely broken traitor in front of him, he then got up and walked back to Anabel and Manaphy. He wrapped his arms around both Anabel and Manaphy and he briefly pressed his lips to Anabel's.

"Way to go Anabel. You really crushed her."

"Thanks Ash but why didn't you make the bargain be her confessing to her being part of Team Rocket?"

"She'd have never done that; I doubt she'll keep to this one either but this way she doesn't know that I intend to prove her guilt. Alright now that's dealt with let's go back to the clearing."

Ash and Anabel broke apart and walked straight passed May who was still on the ground crying. Ash then chose to release Pidgeot who nuzzled him making him laugh. Once she stopped Ash asked his mother if she wanted to meet his other Pokémon but she politely declined as she was due to meet some old friends from her travelling days who she'd kept in touch with but hadn't seen face to face for years. Ariana on the other hand wouldn't be separated from Ash as she hadn't seen him for so long. Ash, Ariana and Anabel began walking back to the clearing.

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

I'm still waiting for someone to correctly guess who the taller man is although I don't think anyone will.

BTW Legendary Fairy I know that Alex isn't from Unova.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.


	19. Tracey Falls & An Old Enemy Returns

I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review; I really appreciate your comments and feedback.

I have a big favour I'd like to ask you all – I recently uploaded an EBook on Amazon, there's a link to it on my profile. I'd really appreciate any support for it whether you buy it or just forward the link on to your friends and family.

Fans of the old story will see that this is basically just a combination of parts from the original. Next chapter will have some new content and the chapter after that will probably be completely new.

Anyway, without further ado here's chapter 16, I hope you enjoy it.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can understand it due to his Aura.

"- Human speech

_"- Telepathy/Aura_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, if I did then Ash would have won a league by now.

* * *

When Ash got back to the clearing he saw his other Pokémon who all approached him wondering how the battle against Max went. Ash let out the ones who had fought today and they all looked extremely proud of themselves.

"Nice job everyone, especially you Charizard. I've got to say you really did a good job on Pikachu."

Charizard smirked 'Thanks.'

Charizard then saw an Ivysaur talking with the others, the dragon was shocked when he realised that he was Bulbasaur meaning that he had evolved. This surprised Charizard considering how often Bulbasaur had said how much he hated the idea of evolving. He walked over to Ivysaur and the conversation Ivysaur was having with the others ended.

'So you evolved.'

'Yeah I had to. I was losing so evolving was the only way I could beat Sceptile.'

Charizard could see now that he was indeed true to his word. If he was prepared to evolve to defeat one of the traitors Pokémon it showed that he was loyal to Ash. Charizard extended his hand and Ivysaur flinched assuming that the dragon was going to attack him. Charizard wasn't surprised at Ivysaur's reaction.

'I'm not going to attack you Ivysaur.'

Ivysaur looked dubious for a moment. But he could tell by the look in the dragon's eyes that he was telling the truth. Ivysaur gingerly extended a vine and Charizard grasped it and shook it.

'So are we good now?' Ivysaur asked.

'Yeah we are. I see that you are truly loyal to Ash if you were willing to evolve to beat one of the traitors.'

'To be honest I'm actually enjoying being an Ivysaur. My speed and agility is about the same as it was before and I've gained a lot of power.'

Ivysaur was overjoyed that everyone had now accepted him, even Infernape, Donphan, Meganium, Sceptile, Feraligatr and Meowth had come over to offer their support. Ash watched as all of his Pokémon now went to Ivysaur and welcomed him to the family. It elated Ash to see that they had all forgiven and befriended Ivysaur now.

Suddenly Ash's Pokénav beeped and he saw a message from Alex asking him if he wanted to meet her at the Pokémon centre. He quickly tapped that he would see her there and started walking out the clearing. As Ash left the clearing Meowth climbed on Ash's shoulder, he hadn't seen Alex for years and wanted to see how she was.

* * *

Ash picked up the pace as soon as he left the forest but before he could get to near the Pokémon Centre he was intercepted by a pissed off Pokémon watcher.

"You've embarrassed the others and even sent two of them to prison. I'm going to make you pay for that." Tracey snarled.

Ash and Meowth started laughing hysterically.

"What's so fucking funny Ketchum?"

"Tracey you're even more pathetic than the other's but if you really want to look like a complete fool let's do this. I Tell you what Tracey I'll give you a chance, I'll let you use all six of your pathetic Pokémon against one of mine."

Tracey was so infuriated that he shook with rage and growled angrily. He sent out all six of the Pokémon he had revealing a Scizor, a Venomoth, a Noctowl, a Glalie, a Heracross and an Azumarill. Ash hadn't really known how to humiliate Tracey, but he had made it easy by foolishly challenging him to a battle. He may not be able to prove his guilt but he would at least be able to trounce Tracey. Ash was glad that Meowth had joined him as otherwise he might have missed out on a golden opportunity. The cat jumped off Ash's shoulder and stood before Tracey's Pokémon.

Meanwhile a hooded figure was watching the events unfolding while hiding behind a tree in the forest. He had decided to split from his shorter companion and go after Ketchum on his own and this appeared to be the perfect chance since the only Pokémon Ketchum had was Meowth. The hooded man felt anticipation rising as he knew that it wouldn't be long now until he got his revenge for what Ketchum did to him. He moved a bit closer so he could listen to what was being said and rolled his eyes as he heard Tracey start to rant.

"Ha you only have one Pokémon and it's the failure from Team Rocket. This'll be easy." Tracey taunted.

Ash and Meowth grinned at his idiocy. Had he really forgotten how badly Meowth had embarrassed Garchomp?

"Yeah it will be, for us." Ash replied.

"Scizor use Metal Claw. Venomoth Signal Beam. Noctowl Air Cutter. Glalie Ice Beam. Heracross Megahorn and Azumarill use Aqua Jet."

"Use Water Pulse on the ground to launch yourself in the air. Then use Hidden Barrage"

Scizor's claws turned metallic and he shot at Meowth. Venomoth formed a white orb and then fired a rainbow coloured beam from the orb at Meowth. Noctowl flapped her wings incredibly quickly which fired blades of wind at Meowth. Glalie formed a light blue orb in front of himself and fired several frozen beams from the orb. Heracross' horn glowed white and he flew straight at Meowth and Azumarill became surrounded in water and shot off towards Meowth. Meowth grinned as he saw the attacks headed his way. He quickly formed an orb of water and threw it at the ground which launched him into the air dodging all of the attacks. Due to their target dodging the attacks hit each other causing an explosion that sent Scizor, Heracross and Azumarill crashing back into Venomoth, Noctowl and Glalie.

Ash smirked as he watched Tracey's Pokémon get back up. The Pokémon all glared at Ash who simply looked up in response. The Pokémon followed his line of sight and saw that six red orbs had now appeared around Meowth. The cat fired the orbs straight at Tracey's Pokémon he followed up by firing a horde of stars and finished it off with firing a several rays of light that could be mistaken for gem stones. The impact of the attacks shrouded the battlefield in dust. When the dust cleared Tracey's Pokémon were seen struggling to stay upright while Meowth gracefully landed on the ground in front of Ash.

"I can't believe they are still standing. I guess they aren't quite as worthless as I thought or maybe Meowth is just holding back even more than I thought he would." Ash said mockingly.

The cat turned and Ash saw by the look in his eyes that the latter of the two statements was correct.

"Scizor and Noctowl Aerial Ace. Heracross Megahorn. Venomoth Signal Beam. Glalie Headbutt and Azumarill use Double-Edge."

"Use Thunder Night Slash on Scizor and Noctowl. Then jump and use Iron Tail on Heracross. Follow up with a Thunder Pulse on Venomoth and then charge at Glalie and Azumarill with Giga Impact."

Scizor and Noctowl became engulfed in streaks of white and charged at Meowth. Heracross' horn glowed again and he flew at Meowth. Venomoth fired another rainbow coloured beam at Meowth and Glalie and Azumarill both ran at Meowth. Meowth watched the approaching Pokémon and charged some electricity but instead of discharging it he channelled it into his now pitch black claws. He ran at Scizor and Noctowl and ducked under their strikes. He then slashed at them both which caused them to cry out in anguish as the electricity shocked them and the pain was so great that they fainted seconds later.

The cat then turned his attention to the beetle flying at him. When Heracross was mere inches away Meowth jumped over the beetle and slammed his now metallic tail on to the back of the bugs head. The strength of the attack smashed him in to the ground which knocked him out instantly. Meowth then formed a ball of water that crackled with electricity. He then fired the orb at the rainbow coloured beam easily pushing it back and slamming into Venomoth which knocked him out. Meowth then looked at his last two victims. He charged at them and when he rammed into them collision caused an explosion which sent Azumarill and Glalie crashing into the Pokémon Centre wall. They both then slumped to the ground unconscious.

Tracey was momentarily stunned but then returned his Pokémon and quickly made his escape, Ash looked at his beaten opponent running off and gave Meowth a quick thanks. He then saw something out of the corner of his eye, he turned his gaze left and saw a hooded man glaring at him.

"Hello Ketchum, it's finally time for my revenge."

"Okay first of all who the hell are you and secondly What's your problem with me?" Ash yelled.

The hooded man cackled evilly and then lowered his hood revealing a face that Ash thought he'd seen for the last time three years ago. Ash and Meowth's eyes widened in shock as they stared at the man stood before them.

"Tobias? What the hell are you doing out of prison?"

Tobias clapped a few times.

"I'm flattered Ketchum, after destroying my life three years ago you still remember me."

Ash stood there in shock, it was impossible that Tobias was hers, he should be in prison after what Ash discovered three years ago. Ash could have sworn that would be the last time he would see Tobias outside of a prison.

"I don't get it; you should be in prison. They locked you up and threw away the key." Ash said in disbelief.

* * *

Flashback (3 years ago)

Ash had been assisting the Pokémon Rangers for the past couple of months. He had put away several Pokémon Poachers in the last few months but had now been given his most important mission to date. He had been assigned to find a Poacher who had been capturing Legendary Pokémon using cruel measures. Several times the Rangers had gotten close but every time he had escaped. Ash couldn't allow someone like this to continue harming Pokémon so he willingly took the mission. He started his search in Sinnoh as he had sensed a high level of distress coming from Azelf. They had maintained their bond so Ash was almost certain that whoever was causing Azelf's distress was the person he was looking for.

Ash had gotten to Sinnoh as quickly as possible and arrived at Lake Valor in time to see Azelf. The Willpower Pokémon was covered in injuries and clearly unable to battle. However, he was being shocked by the container he had been trapped in. Ash saw a man stood in front of the container with some kind of remote in his hand. Ash guessed that it was a control for the container.

"Now this can stop right now as long as you swear to obey me." the man said.

Azelf shook his head defiantly. He would not be controlled by this evil man. The man turned a gauge all the way to the max which massively increased the power of the electricity that was shocking Azelf. The overwhelming power caused Azelf to scream in agony. Ash had seen enough of this. He quickly sent Charizard out. The dragon charged forward and smashed the container. Charizard picked up Azelf who had lost consciousness and brought him to Ash. Seeing the poor condition Azelf was in Ash released Gardevoir and she began healing Azelf. Ash glared at the man responsible for this.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Ash yelled.

"Don't you recognise me Ash?" the man asked.

The man dropped the hood that was shrouding his face and Ash's jaw dropped.

"Tobias why are you doing this?" Ash couldn't understand why the Tobias he knew would do this.

An evil grin was now plastered on Tobias' face.

"Well obviously I'm capturing another Legendary Pokémon. Come on Ash how do you think I got my other Legendary Pokémon to obey me?"

Ash was stunned that this was the same man he had fought in the Sinnoh League over four years ago. But the more Ash thought about it the more it made sense. After all, why else would they listen to his commands. It also explained how he had caught them in regular poke balls. He had tortured them until they had no choice but to serve him. Ash was furious.

"I've got to stop you." Ash said in a determined tone.

"Ha you think you can beat me? You lost in the Sinnoh League last time we met and now will be no different." Tobias mocked.

"I don't think so Tobias. I'm not the same foolish kid I was back then."

"I seriously doubt that. But if you want to be beaten again I'll battle you on one condition. When I win you give me that Azelf over there."

"Deal."

"I'll tell you what Ketchum I'm going to give you a chance. I'll choose first, I'm sure you remember him. Darkrai crush him"

"You're way to predictable Tobias. Primeape may the Aura guide you."

Tobias looked at Primeape in disdain.

"That's the best you have to fight me. This will be even easier than I thought. Dark Void."

"Take it. Then use Close Combat."

Tobias was confused why Ash told Primeape to just stand there but he wasn't going to complain. Darkrai formed some dark energy in his hands and shot it at Primeape who stood there. Tobias smirked as the dark energy hit Primeape but stood there in disbelief when he saw that Primeape was unaffected by the attack. Before he could give Darkrai another command Primeape charged forward and hit Darkrai with a flurry of punches and kicks. When his bombardment ended Primeape jumped back in front of Ash. Tobias was stunned.

"What how is that possible?" Tobias asked in shock.

"It's simple really. Primeape has the Vital Spirit ability which means he can't be put to sleep." Ash stated.

Tobias was worried as his main strategy had been countered.

"Darkrai Ice Beam."

"Put your right fist forward and charge a Thunder Punch into your left fist. Then hit him with Elemental Punches."

Darkrai formed a light blue orb in his hands and fired light blue beams of ice from the orb at Primeape. The pig monkey smirked as the attack shot towards him. His left fist suddenly started to crackle with electricity and at the same time he raised his right fist. The beams of ice hit his fist which was frozen by the attack. Tobias smirked thinking how foolish Ash had been. But his smirk quickly vanished as he saw Primeape run forward and hit Darkrai with the frozen fist and then the electric fist. The punches sent the Nightmare Pokémon smashing into a boulder and he slumped to the ground but Ash wasn't finished.

"Giga Impact."

Primeape charged full speed at Darkrai who had just managed to get back into the air however he was clearly struggling to remain conscious. Tobias could only watch as the defenceless Darkrai was sent crashing behind him finally losing the battle with consciousness. Tobias was stunned he just couldn't believe Darkrai had been beaten so easily after he had crushed so many people in the past. Tobias returned the Nightmare Pokémon and glared at Ash while taking another Pokéball off his belt.

"Ok Latios you're up."

"Primeape return. Flygon may the Aura guide you."

The dragons sized each other up and grinned glad that they'd have a challenge.

"Dragon Pulse."

"Flygon match it."

Both Pokémon formed a turquoise orb and fired them at each other. The attacks clashed and cancelled each other out creating an explosion that shrouded both dragons in a cloud of dust.

"Dragon Claw"

"Do the same."

When the dust settled both Pokémon flew at each other and their claws glowed. They exchanged blows both getting in some good hits however Latios appeared to be coming off worse as his body was covered in far more cuts than Flygon's. Both then threw a claw forwards which was caught by their opponent's other hand. It became a battle of strength however neither was gaining an upper hand. Flygon then descended knowing that on the ground he had the advantage. Latios could see what Flygon had planned and quickly broke away. Both dragons then flew back in front of their trainers.

"Latios Zen Headbutt."

"Use Iron Tail

Latios charged forward Psychic energy focussed into his head surrounding it in a blue glow. Flygon shot high into the sky and his tail turned metallic. Latios changed his course and shot straight at Flygon who swung his tail at the approaching Latios. The attacks collided which created a shock wave which knocked them both back. The dragons looked tired but ready for more,

"Dragon Rush." Ash and Tobias both called out.

The two dragon's bodies were surrounded in a blue aura. They charged at each other and the clash of power created an explosion which sent them both crashing into some of the trees that surrounded their make shift battlefield. Both dragons managed to get back up but it was obvious to both trainers that they only had one more attack left in them.

"Latios use Luster Purge."

"Flygon Draco Meteor."

Latios opened his mouth and white sparkles formed and gathered in it. The sparkles then formed a pink ball of energy. He then fired a massive pink beam from the ball at Flygon. In response Flygon fired an orange orb into the sky. The orb then exploded sending several meteor like orbs crashing to the ground. The attacks created a series of explosions that once again covered the battlefield in dust. When the dust cleared it revealed both Pokémon who were both on the ground unconscious. Ash and Tobias returned their Pokémon.

"Suicune you're turn."

"Absol may the Aura guide you."

"Hydro Pump."

"Ice Beam."

Suicune opened his mouth and fired a high pressure jet of water at the disaster Pokémon. Absol quickly opened her mouth and formed a light blue orb. She then shot several light blue beams of ice at the Hydro Pump. The ice froze the water which stopped the attack and made crash to the ground covering the battlefield in shards of ice. Tobias growled in annoyance.

"Use Iron Head."

Ash smirked. He had hoped that Tobias would get frustrated so he would make some mistakes and now Tobias was playing into his hands.

"Match him with Megahorn then use Night Slash."

Suicune charged forward and his head turned metallic. Meanwhile the sickle on her Absol's head glowed and she ran at Aurora Pokémon. The attacks clashed and neither of them were giving any ground. However, Absol raised her front paws and her claws were now black. She slashed Suicune's front legs which causing him to stagger back. Absol then ran forward and slashed him with her sickle which opened up a nasty gash on his right side.

"Suicune Signal Beam."

Ash was worried as he knew that could cause some serious damage. The only choice he now had was to try the new move they'd been working on.

"Use Bounce then use Dark Impact."

Suicune formed a white orb and then fired a rainbow coloured beam from the orb. The beam shot at Absol who sprang into the air dodging the attack. She was then surrounded by dark energy and began plummeting towards Suicune who was too shocked to move by the powerful looking attack. When Absol crashed into Suicune the legendary dog was sent skidding along the ground coming to a stop in front of Tobias. Both trainers looked at legendary Pokémon and saw that his body covered in cuts and bruises. Ash smirked as he watched Absol staggering back to him with a satisfied look on her face. Ash thanked her and she was returned to her poke ball.

"This isn't over Ketchum go Moltres."

Ash looked over his shoulder at Charizard and nodded. The dragon smirked and now stood in front of Ash ready to prove who the better fire and flying type is. Moltres was slightly intimated by the powerful looking dragon.

"Moltres use Flamethrower."

The Legendary sent a burst of flames at Charizard who like Ash stood there completely unimpressed. When the attack hit Charizard was bathed in flames which made Tobias and Moltres feel pretty confident. However, their confidence was shattered when the flames died down as it showed a completely unharmed Charizard. Moltres looked at him and felt something he'd never felt before... fear.

"Is that really the best you got? You're such a disappointment Tobias. Charizard show him a proper Flamethrower then hit him with a Thunder Punch."

Charizard opened his mouth and shot a much bigger burst of flames at Moltres. The flames surrounded Moltres which made him screeched in pain. When Moltres recovered from the attack he opened his eyes and saw the dragon flying at him with his fist crackling. Moltres had no chance to prevent the attack headed his way and could only watch as Charizard threw his fist forward. When the fist impacted on Moltres he was subjected to excruciating pain. It was even worse than when Tobias had trapped him in his container all those years ago. He lost control of his body and he crashed to the ground. Ash was surprised when Moltres somehow pushed himself back into the air.

"Drill Peck."

"Flare Blitz."

Moltres shot back into the air straight at Charizard and his beak glowing white. At the same time Charizard was engulfed in flames and he charged at Moltres. The fire and flying types clashed and the collision caused them both to be pushed back. This had no real effect on Charizard. Moltres on the other hand was sent crashing back into the ground. He slammed into the ground and Ash was certain that it was over. However, Moltres was somehow pushing himself up using his wings.

"Charizard finish him."

Charizard smirked and then flew down at Moltres who had collapsed. Charizard stopped and looked back at Ash who nodded. The dragon once again flew at Moltres and he grabbed the limp legendary by its neck. He flew straight back up and flew high into the sky. When he got high enough he stopped and threw Moltres back down to earth. Moltres cracked open an eye and saw that he was headed straight at the rocks protruding from the ground. He tried to move but his body wasn't responding so he crashed into the battlefield. Charizard flew down and stood in front of Ash. Tobias looked at the proud looking dragon and his broken bird. Tobias' confidence was waning more by the second. He looked at Ash and saw the smug look on his face and it infuriated him.

"Cresselia lets crush this scum."

"Glaceon, may the Aura guide you."

Both Pokémon appeared on the battlefield and Ash was suddenly dubious of using Glaceon. She had only evolved recently so she hadn't had a lot of time to get used to her new powers but he had faith in her abilities. Tobias looked at the ice Eeveelution and could tell she was inexperienced. He suddenly felt extremely confident that Cresselia would sweep it aside.

"Using inexperienced Pokémon is a big mistake Ash. This will be an easy win." Tobias said mockingly.

Ash and Glaceon glared at Tobias who smirked back but was slightly confused when he saw Ash mutter something to the fox. He couldn't hear what Ash said so he just disregarded it.

"Well I'll put your weak little fox out of its misery. Cresselia use Psychic and throw that Glaceon into that boulder."

"Use Double Team. Then use Ice Beam."

Multiple copies of Glaceon quickly appeared all around Cresselia. The Lunar Pokémon glowed blue and then a similar glow surrounded one of the Glaceon around her. Unfortunately, Cresselia only hit one of the copies making her start looking around anxiously trying to spot the real Glaceon. She watched as every single one of the Glaceon formed a light blue orb in front of them and fired several light blue beams of ice at her. She didn't know to do and since Tobias gave her no orders she was then struck with an Ice Beam to her left. She quickly turned to her left and once again glowed blue. She smirked as she assumed that she had gotten the real Glaceon. But she was wrong as the copy faded away. She growled angrily and then felt an Ice Beam hit her from behind. She was rapidly getting annoyed.

"Cresselia use Calm Mind."

Cresselia did as Tobias asked and felt much better. Tobias was relieved that he had gotten Cresselia to calm down as if she was frustrated she would not be able to focus.

"Now Levitate the rocks and throw them at everyone single one of them."

She was surrounded in a blue glow again and she lifted the rocks from the destroyed battlefield. The rocks circled around her and then she began throwing them at all of the Glaceon. Eventually she heard the real one cry out as the rock smashed into her and she skidded across the ground. Tobias smirked when he saw the concerned look on Ash's face.

"Now throw all the rocks at her."

"Quick Blizzard." Ash said frantically.

Cresselia lifted the rocks with Psychic. They were sent hurtling at Glaceon who was struggling to get to her feet. Somehow she managed to open her mouth and fire a powerful blizzard which froze all the rocks making them crash to the ground.

"So you want to fire rocks at us, well two can play at that game Tobias. Use Icy Wind."

Glaceon opened her mouth and the inside glowed light blue. She then released a strong wind that had sparkling blue flecks of snow in it. The chilled wind launched the frozen rocks at Cresselia and she was knocked back by the heavy rocks. Tobias needed Cresselia to have as much strength as possible if he was going to turn this match around so he decided that it was time he finished it.

"Giga Impact."

Ash smiled confidently which confused Tobias.

"Frost Smash."

The Pokémon charged at it each other. Cresselia was glowing white and Glaceon was encased in ice. When the attacks collided Ash and Tobias heard the Cresselia cry in pain and seconds later Tobias watched in disbelief as Cresselia collapsed. His shock only intensified when he saw Glaceon walking away as if she hadn't even taken a bit of damage.

"What? I don't understand. How is that possible? She was struggling to stand how could she beat Cresselia?" Tobias yelled angrily.

"Never heard of a ruse? I knew you'd go for a Giga Impact thinking that she'd be defenceless. So at the start of the battle I told Glaceon to feign injury. All of the worried looks and the desperation in my voice was all fake."

Tobias was almost embarrassed that he'd fallen for such an obvious trick. He had underestimated Ketchum from the start and he was paying for that mistake.

"Hey Tobias I thought you were going to beat me easily." Ash taunted.

Tobias was fuming, Ash was mocking him. He was being completely humiliated by Ketchum and he would not stand for this.

"Shut up Ketchum. I'm not finished yet. Meloetta destroy him."

"Lucario may the Aura lead us to victory."

Ash smirked at the furious look on Tobias' face. The smug look on Ash's face pissed Tobias off even more.

"Use Psychic."

"Cancel it out with Dark Pulse."

Meloetta glowed blue and then fired a wave of psychic energy at the jackal. Lucario wasn't concerned and just stood still as he formed enough dark energy to surround himself. The psychic wave hit Lucario but is was dispelled by the Dark attack. Tobias was at the stage where he just wanted to land a hit.

"Focus Blast."

"Jump over it and use Blazing Aura."

Meloetta formed a blue orb and then fired it at Lucario. The jackal easily leapt over the attack. He landed behind Meloetta and formed an orb of Aura which levitated in front of him. His paw was then engulfed in flames and he punched the orb of Aura which now glowed blue but was surrounded in flames. The orb rocketed at Meloetta at a blistering pace and she cried out in pain when the attack hit her. Meloetta was now bent over breathing hard and wincing in pain.

"Lucario it's time to finish this Elemental Combat."

Lucario charged at Meloetta who was still doubled over trying to recover from the devastating blow she had just taken. She looked up and saw the jackal running at her. His left paw was engulfed in flames and his paw right crackled with electricity. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop Lucario and just stood there defenceless trying to withstand the ruthless assault she was subjected to. But the pain was far too much for her to handle and she collapsed.

Tobias looked at his now unconscious Meloetta., he was in utter shock. He'd never been beaten in battle before and today he was completely humiliated. Tobias saw Ash headed his was and knew that he only had one option. He turned and ran away as quick as he could but despite his best efforts he couldn't get away from Ash. Tobias didn't know how long he had been running all he knew was that his legs were burning and he was covered in cuts from where the branches of various trees had caught him.

Tobias eventually came to the edge of a cliff, he turned around and saw Ash stood behind him. He was trapped now and had no way to get past Ash so Tobias weighed his options and then looked from Ash to the bottom of the cliff. He eventually decided that prison was better than certain death so he fell to his knees in surrender. Ash immediately made the call to the Rangers and minutes later several officer Jenny's and Pokémon Rangers were on the scene. They arrested Tobias who ignore them, choosing instead to glare at Ash

"I will get you for this Ketchum."

"I wouldn't bet on that Tobias. Alright guys take him away."

Ash watched as Tobias was dragged away and smirked as he heard his old nemesis cursing at him. Tobias continued to glare and curse at Ash until the boy was out of sight, as he was shoved into the police car he swore that somehow, someway he would get revenge on Ash Ketchum.

Flashback over

* * *

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions PM them to me. I am more than happy to answer them.

So the taller man has been revealed at Tobias which just leaves the question who is the shorter man?

And what did Ash do to him that has made Tobias want to get revenge?

Combo Moves

Hidden Barrage - Hidden Power + Swift + Power Gem

Thunder Night Slash - Thunderbolt + Night Slash

Thunder Pulse - Water Pulse + Thunderbolt

Elemental Punches – Thunder Punch + Ice Punch

Dark Impact – Dark Pulse + Giga Impact

Frost Smash – Equivalent of Flare Blitz, Volt Tackle etc.

Blazing Aura – Aura Sphere + Fire Punch

Elemental Combat – Fire Punch + Thunder Punch + Close Combat


	20. The End

Hello my fellow fanfic lovers,

This will in all likelihood be my final post on this site (apart from any reviews I leave). I am sorry to say that I just don't have time in my life for writing fanfics anymore. This isn't a decision I've made lightly, I have tried my hardest to find the time to continue but I just don't have the time. It deeply saddens me to say this as fanfic writing became a huge part of me, it helped me get through my darkest days caused by me epilepsy and writing gave me confidence in myself which I had lost a long time ago.

All of my stories are officially up for adoption and I leave them for anyone to continue if they want. I will read the odd story every now and then so if you do take on one of my stories tell me and I shall read what you upload.

I want to thank each and every one of you one last time for the amazing support you have given me over the years. Whether you've follower/favourited/reviewed or PM'd me I have appreciated everything. I just hope that I have inspired some of you to write your ideas down and I really do hope your stories get all the love and support that mine have.

Thank you all once again for the memories, I love you all.

Best wishes to you all,

Knight of Kanto.

xxx


	21. Adoption

Hello my fellow fanfic lovers,

Okay I know I said my last pot would probably be my last but I've been getting asked the same thing by a few different people and that is if they can adopt this story. Since there are several people asking I have decided that if you want to adopt this story you have to send me a basic outline of what you intend to do for the rest of the story. This is simply so that the story stays relatively similar to my original vision.

Best wishes to you all,

Knight of Kanto.

xxx


End file.
